Working.

Ty was in the Florida Keys this past week/weekend on a work trip.  That left me and the boys to piddle with Nana and Papa. Day 1 of Daddy being gone, we loaded up and went to visit my parents at my Dad's work.

A kid's dream.
A Mommy's, not so much.

Nash was covered in engine grease. He smelled like engine grease. His shoes had to be washed. His nails needed to be cut. You name it.  But, of course, he had a blast.

Here's a composite of his fun.  It's too cute not to share. Literally, a boy in his element.

St. Ann Catholic Church Annual Carnival (Nashy's School)

This was Nash's first extra-curricular school function.  We invited his little buddy Mary (a.k.a. "Ma-eee") and her Mommy & Daddy to tag along. Not much to share but pictures.

Sweet, blossoming love <3

Taking a break for some grub: hot dogs, funnel cake, soda!

Sweaty, dirty "cheese"

Daddy and Kiel take on the bull.

HILARIOUS.

...and Knox. Typical, Knox. ;)

Learning Patience. Learning Thankfulness. Learning Gratitude.

Ty left for a business trip this afternoon. Cue rough evening with kids.

Murphy and his damn law. He isn't a fan of me.


Humor me for a second:
Imagine yourself exhausted, achey, low-on-patience, ready for a cocktail. Now add a disaster of a house thanks to a toddler, the smell of infant spit-up on your clothes, no makeup (pimples), went-to-bed-with-wet-hair head, muffin-top, torn "Mom clothes".
Now, stop. Take a deep breath. Thank God for EACH and every one of those things.

Bliss. It really is.

I have to remind myself each and every night that every single frustrated moment, exhausted tear, achey ears from the crying, the "Mamas!!", the tantrums and the screaming are completely silenced in my head by the wet kisses, the hugs, the giggles, the milestones, the tiny hands and feet and the "lobe you"s from a certain sweet little guy.
I am not a new Mom, but a new again Mom. With that comes twice the tiredness, twice the frustration and twice the exhausted tears (from me, that is).

Why this random, rather sentimental post you ask? I find myself, this afternoon/evening, turning to my faith to find peace. I know the next 5 days without my husband's evening interjection will be a challenge; a test if you will. I don't want to lose it. I'd rather, grow from it. Be a better Mom because of it.

Point in case: We spank. It is what it is. Don't judge. I don't turn to spanking unless completely necessary. Which, is very rarely necessary. I learned to have that look from my Mom and Nash responds well to it. Unfortunately, it didn't work tonight and I lost it... he got a spanking and was sent to bed without a book. Afterward, I turned inward to really reflect as to whether or not a spanking was really warranted. Did he really deserve it? Was I just frustrated? I know it happens. Ask my Mom. I have a scar on my bottom lip from a backhand from the front seat as a grade-schooler. She got upset with my back talk and ultimately it left a mark. I'm going to be 31 in a matter of months (oh-em-gee) and I still remember that day vividly. Ahhh... memories. ;)

But, as I reflect, I re-live my day and consider that the wonderfully blissful moments completely out-number the rough, challenging moments 100:1. I sigh. It's gratitude. It's thankfulness. I need to remember this on Saturday, after 4 days have passed and I am completely running on fumes.

I realize that these beautiful boys, whom I struggled to bring into this world, are here to teach me patience. ABOVE ALL - patience. How can I remind myself of that everyday?

As you see from the right-side column, I follow many a blog. One particular blog, focuses on the loss of a new baby well over a year ago. I check-in with it often. It helps keep me in check. It helps remind me that when Knox won't go to sleep... when he won't nap... when his crying elevates to hysteria and Nash is screaming "Mama!!!!" that I need to be thankful for it all. Every. Single. Scream.

Instead of wallowing in my lack of sleep and frustrations with new baby-dom, I need to be thankful that Knox is screaming those loud, ear-piercing yelps and Nash is running around the house needing to go "podey" right as I am making Knox a bottle and the doorbell rings. It's life and am grateful to be living it.

It's a blessing.  They are my blessings and I am humbled.

So, in consideration of my day, I share these with you... every-single-insanely precious moment of my day:

Finally caught a genuine smile on my iphone:

Knox's first giggles. I melt <3

The beginning on my evening meltdown:

I hope from this, if you're mid-screaming kids, you stop to consider how very blessed you are and how, even as exhausted you may be, you would give your life to not lose any single moment of it all.

Labor Day Love

My son LOVES this little girl. Mary is the product of two friends of mine and my sister's. She and I went to elementary - high school with her Daddy and high school with her Mama. "Ma-ey", as Nash calls her, is one of the only little girls he lets hang on him, pester him, kiss him.

Here's a glimpse of their very "busy" Labor Day fun:

*note Nash's foot. HIL-AR-I-OUS. I can just imagine him one day 

with his foot like that as they wind down from their long days. 

A late evening out wouldn't be complete without some love from Nash's Papa (my Dad).

I love this picture.  Reminds me of days when I'd lay with my dad and 

watch tv (albeit the history channel).

Lastly, my sweet little guy and his new found happiness. 

I imagine somewhere in that little head of his he's thanking me for 

the charade of formulas, medicines, and homeopathic remedies 

I've had him on trying to figure out the best combination to make his system happy. 

Some Afternoon Cuteness

Who can say they don't love babies? I mean... c'monnnnn.
After a day of doctor's visits, crying spells, tantrums and then some play-doh fun followed by Monster's Inc on repeat, Mommy (AND Nana) snagged the camera to snag a few candids.

Here's Mommy's helper calling in reinforcements:

Let me add that he's developed a chronic problem -- his need to 

play with all things beginning with "i"; the ipad... the iphone... etc.

Here's a few of my happy baby. Sweet angel!

And I love these of the boys together.  I'll cherish ones like this always.

Tummy-Time

Let me preface my planned video post with this disclaimer:

...Ahhh the SIDS debate. I hear ya, I hear ya. I also know what sleep deprivation feels like and have seen it on a 1 month old.  It's not pretty.

Insert stomach sleeping.

I'm still not sleeping very well for fear of his stomach sleeping, but I know it's what makes him feel better.  Our Pediatric Gastroenterologist indirectly recommended this as the preferred method of sleeping infants with reflux.  (Of course, they cannot ethically recommend this to parents.)  Thankfully, I have a video monitor clear enough to watch him breathe and have recently borrowed a movement monitor that will alarm me if he stops breathing.  I plan to install the movement monitor when we move him upstairs for good. It's honestly for my own piece of mind; which in Mommy-world makes all the difference.

So -- the video -- this is from the morning after he slept on his stomach. The kid hasn't been this happy since that gooey newborn phase the first 2 weeks we were home from the hospital.

Love him (excuse the crappy iphone video):

First Swim

So, the clouds have parted and the sun begins to shine again (well, in our case continue to shine and bake us all to a crisp). Colic is gone and we are working hard to get back on track.  I've been referencing some of my Mommy literature and am anxiously trying to get Knox rested and on some sort of patterned sleep schedule.
For the weeks surrounding colic we were lucky to get a 30 min nap in him during the day and any more than 2 hours of REM sleep at night.  Now, almost 2 weeks post-colic, we are on the fast track to normalcy. I'm beginning to see my bags under my eyes disappear. Praise sweet baby Jesus.

In the spirit of "anew", I thought I'd share some quick ol' iphone photos of my sweet boys swimming with Nana (pronounced: Naaaa Naaaa - just to clarify ;p). My Mom had been swimming with Nash and once I saw the sun disappear behind the trees and offer some shade, I slipped out with my little naked nugget to let him feel the warmth (and by warmth, I mean bath water warm) of the pool. He was content and I was pleased.

Again, we welcome the post-colic era: