Day 10

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 20 days

Mommy's Lesson 1: Children and poop are synonymous.
Today, my dad pointed out to me that almost all my blogs include something about poo. At first I thought that was odd; but then I really thought about it. I change at least 7 poopy diapers a day between my two children---more if one of them is especially active. I may get lucky and have a little less if I can convince my son to use the potty. It is almost impossible to not have some kind of smelly experience from my day. Maybe in the future, I will try to eliminate a few BM stories. But, lest today be any different from the norm . . .

Mommy's Lesson: Save the talking for after Liem's bedtime.
Liem' Lesson: Dog poop is not play dough.
My husband and I try to grab a few moments to talk in between the madness. These moment are rare, since they are usually when both children are temporarily settled---mainly our two-year-old. Occasionally, though, we try to grab a moment to discuss something when he is awake. Today is a prime example of why we don't normally do this. I let Liem play outside unsupervised. I knew he was digging in mud, fresh from the day's rain---I was okay with this. Boys and dirt go together like cupcakes and frosting. What I didn't know was that while my husband and I talked about needing a bigger car, Liem was building dog poop castles. Then, realizing the reprimanding that he would incur, he decided he should wash his hands. So he went into our bathroom and got poop all over my sink, soap dispenser, cabinets and towels. He then realized he was unable to turn the water on. At this point he comes to me and says, "I need to wash my hands, Mommy," displaying his very messy hands. I didn't know he'd already been in my bathroom, but the poo was all over his shirt, his hands, and his arms. I told him to go rinse in his pool to get the big stuff. He did, then came back in and wiped his hands on my couch and jeans---now I and my couch are wearing soggy poop. I tool him to the bathroom and saw the mess from his own attempt to clean up. I washed his hands and arms, and my bathroom and realized it was also all over his legs and in his hair. The end result was Daddy giving him a bath and giving Mommy a break.

Mommy's Lesson 2: Just be patient.
Liem has been doing a lot better with his sister. And a lot better with me, too. He especially does well if he thinks no one is watching. Today, I stepped out of the room to make lunch and left he and Priss in my room. When I came back he had pulled her blanket over her. She didn't need it, but he was taking care of his little sister. What a blessing to see that patience and not pushing is working.

A picture from one of Liem's muddy adventures this Spring & Prissy after Liem had covered her:

Family Day 5

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 19 days

Our Sunday is spent at church. We're there most of the day. But getting there is always an adventure.

Liem naps in the afternoon, and getting him up to go back to church is always a battle. He likes the nursery--loves it, actually. But he loves sleep more (he's his mother's son). But once we get moving, we're all good.

Today, we headed back for choir practice and evening service and we offered him a snack, as usual. Today, though, Liem said, "No, thank you. I'm too sad to eat." After swallowing my laughter at his silly-for-a-two-year-old statement, I asked, "Why are you sad?" He said, "I just need some rest." So we let him be. A few minutes later he said, "I'm rested now." What a crack-up my little man is.

Adventures Alone: Day 9

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 17 days

I had very little alone time with both my children today. We had an appointment this morning, and planned to come home this afternoon.

My mom and the three of us were headed home after our morning out. As soon as we got in the car, Liem told me he didn't want to go home. I thought it was just because he had got to play with his friends and wasn't ready for it to stop. But we were almost home and he was still insistent that he didn't want to go home. When I asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to go home with Grandmommy, my mom. I explained to him that I had to go home, so he would have to go with her by himself. To my surprise, he agreed. I was thrilled that we had instilled in him some independance, and broken hearted that he was asking to leave mommy. They dropped me off, and it was reported to me that he said, "I got home with Grandmommy, and Mommy feel better. Mommy take a nap and feel better." I just can't believe my little man is already thinking of taking care of me---at two! I am just so blessed!

Family Day 4

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 18 days

Just wanted to share about my fabulous family.

We got tons of work done around the house, and everyone pitched in. Liem and Daddy mowed the lawn, and Prissy and Mommy organized the clothes (she laid next to me, anyway). We went on our first grocery shopping trip as a family tonight---that was a new adventure.

The best part of our day was Priscilla's first bath at home. Previous to this, I've been cleaning her with a damp cloth waiting for her belly button to heal. We all got in on the adventure. Daddy took pictures and video, Mommy bathed, and Liem gave me instructions and said, "It's okay, Prissy." Then, while Daddy put Liem to bed, I cuddled Priss while she was a wrapped up in a towel. It was such a sweet moment just Mommy and the baby girl. Then, she pooped on me through the towel; and pooped, and popped, and pooped. Why didn't I get up and clean her? Because she didn't take a break. Every time I would go to clean her up, she'd go again. I am very thankful her system is in good working order.

I have a fantastic family! And I just can't get over how blessed I am. I couldn't ask for anything more than I already have.

Mommy & Priss after her bath (and before the poop):

Adventures Alone: Day 7

Liem: 28 Months
Priscilla: 15 Days

I am exhausted, and therefore do not guarantee the quality or correct grammatical structure of the content of this blog.

Mommy's Lesson 1: I need more than 3 non-consecutive hours of sleep a night. Priscilla was up all night just because. She'd fall asleep and wake up five minutes later complaining, as if saying, "Wait a minute, you tricked me!" I lost count somewhere after the third time, but I cried a lot today. That's just hormones and a lack of sleep. I believe I may have said something to Liem along the lines of, "Don't do what I told you to" at some point today. I think I may also have called him "Bumper" (the name of our dog). Poor kid. I'm pretty sure I was very confusing today.

Mommy's Lesson 2: It is best to double check the needed ingredients needed vs ingredients I have before making a meal. I think I've done this several times since coming home from the hospital. I can usually improvise; today, however, I was just out of everything that would work. So I decided to quit while I was ahead and move on to the back-up plan. Liem loves sweet potatoes, so in went three bakers. A success? Unfortunately not. I wasn't paying very close attention to my husband's. He ended up with one big bite of a rotten sweet potato. Liem's and my potatoes were fine. My poor husband ended up with a bowl if cereal for dinner.

Mommy's Lesson 3: 2-year olds can't be still; and hair gel covers a lot.
Liem's Lesson: Hold still as best you can.
Every time Liem gets a haircut, he screams like a banshee. You'd think that his hair had feeling and every time the blade cut, he felt it. So I have quit taking him to get his hair cut; I feel bad for the person having to do it. I started cutting his hair myself last fall thinking it might be less "scary" for mommy to do it: wrong! He still screams. My skill has improved, but his confidence has not. So I switched to regular scissors today in hopes that the elimination of the loud noise while cutting would help. He didn't scream, but he did wiggle a lot more; now he was curious. The process went something like this: I cut, he squirms, I sigh, and he says, "Oh, no." My skill with the scissors will have to improve and learn to move with his squirms. In the mean time, hair gel does quite a bit to cover my mistakes.

Just want to say thanks for reading!! I'm having fun writing, and I hope you're getting a chuckle as you read. :-)

Adventures Alone: Day 8

Liem: 28 Months
Priscilla: 16 Days

Today is Priscilla's due date. I am so glad she is here already!! I can't imagine having had to be pregnant these last two weeks.

There were several lessons today, but I just want to brag on my sweet Liem today with a funny story.

We leave our lab/husky mix in the garage (cooled) when we have to be gone because of the heat and all the sporadic rain we've been getting. If I leave him in the house, he always finds something to chew up; and I'd rather him use the bathroom in the garage than on my carpet should the urgent need arise. Today, the urgent need arose. I didn't notice this, but Liem did. He came and told me, "Mommy, there's poo-poo!" Sure enough, there it sat in my garage. Apparently, Liem saw how much I didn't want to have to clean it up; because a moment later he came back with toilet paper in hand and said, "I'll clean it up, Mommy."

I just love how my little man takes care of me and his sister. He reminds me to buckle her in the car (I don't need the reminder, but it's so sweet that he's concerned). If Priss is fussy, he goes and rubs her back. If I'm having a rough day, he says, "Don't be sad. I love you so much, Mommy." He's been very protective of his sister when we're out (maybe a little too much--haha).

He is just such a blessing to me. God has been very good to this mommy.

Adventures Alone: Day 6

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 14 days

Today's lessons were in Potty Training 101. I wish I could pay someone to handle this part of parenting for me.

Mommy's Lesson 1: Make Liem pee before giving him a potty book. Liem takes a while to go to the bathroom, it's not always a quick process. To pass the time, we give him a book to read/look at. He has begun to forget to "aim" in his excitement to read his book. So it is a regular occurrence now for him to miss the toilet all together and pee out from under the book and all over the bathroom. Why I didn't think of it sooner, I don't know; but now he has to pee before he gets a book (the rest of the processes he can have a book for). This is a very valuable lesson for me to have learned.

Mommy's Lesson 2: Chants and Sing-songs make it more fun. Daddy came up with this one and, again, I should have thought of this before. But during his night-time routine, I hear from the bathroom, "Liem make poo-poo. Liem make poo-poo." Not overly original or novel, but obviously effective. He went poo-poo. I will have to come up with more of these.

Liem's Lesson: Don't pee on Mater. We took Liem to the store and made a very big deal about buying big boy underwear. He knows how to use the bathroom, but forgets to go. So I thought maybe big boy underwear would help him remember. (Potty candy and other enticements have not worked.) He knows not to pee on Mommy's floor or our bed; and says just that all the time: "Don't pee on Mommy's floor." So I have now added, "Don't pee on Mater" (the character on his underwear) to the repertoire. We are going to have to keep working on this one; because Mater wasn't the only one to suffer, my couch suffered the harsh consequences of the failed day 1 of Potty Training 101.

A picture of me and my beautiful children from my birthday yesterday:

Adventures Alone: Day 5

Liem: 28 month
Priscilla: 13 days

My husband was home for a long weekend, cutting my alone time short last week. (This did not bother me.) But today we were at it in full swing.

Mommy's over-all Day 5 Lesson: Your children and the world don't care that it's your birthday. There is no rest for the weary. I wasn't the only one to miss my husband after the long weekend. Liem was very upset that Daddy had to go back to work today, and expressed his thoughts and feelings on this freely. They were manifested in such phrases as, "Mommy go to work, Daddy come home." I was actually kind of impressed that he came up with that one on his own; he understands someone has to work.

Mommy's Lesson 2: Don't take the Oreos out in such an OCD manner. I really like things to be a certain way, and I expresses this in various silly ways. I take the Oreos from the package from the top to bottom, left to right columns. (If they didn't want you to eat them in order, they'd put them in a bag.) Today I realized what a mistake I've been making, because this makes the package heavy to one side as the cookies are removed from the package. So when I removed the package from the pantry, it fell and the cookies went all over the floor. But please don't tell my husband, because I put them back in the package and returned them to the pantry; he can eat them. (I had to after a lesson I learned this weekend: Don't buy Oreos at Publix. $4.15 a package is WAY too much!)

Mommy's Lesson 3: My husband is the best. I knew this already, but just wanted to brag. I have craved cinnamon since Priscilla was born. So in light of my desire for Cinnabon on my birthday, he got two and put candles in them. He's such a sweetheart.

The truth is, my birthday was fantastic because I have been blessed beyond measure. I have a husband, two children, wonderful family, amazing friends, and over a hundred birthday wishes from them. God has been so good.

Adventures Alone: Day 4

Liem: 28 Months
Priscilla: 9 Days

Today: Rain is a free water park. I have always loved rain and Liem has inherited this love of rain. There is nothing especially entertaining to write here, except to say that a soaking wet boy in a diaper and his soaking wet mommy running around the front yard are kind of funny to watch.

Today's water park fun:

Adventures Alone: Day 3

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 8 days

Warning! Today's post is briefly mushy.

Mommy's Lesson 1: Today I learned that a mommy's heart needs little encouragement to find happiness in her children.

Liem has been quite upset with me for bringing home a baby. It's not that there's something wrong with Priscilla, he even kind of likes her; he just doesn't like me.
This morning, there was improvement. Liem cuddled with me for the first time since Priscilla was born! We had some good quality time together. And then, miracle of miracles, Liem decided he wanted to help mommy with the baby. He held her while I went to get something in the other room.
This could all end abruptly at any moment. I just know that he gave me a little encouragement, and I'm running with it.

Mommy's Lesson 2: "Weird" isn't always bad. (This was illustrated in the first story, and even further in the following.) Liem just climbed in his bed and called out, "I take a nap now, Mommy." Why is this weird? He's never done this before. Usually, nap time is met with, "Read a book, Mommy" or "Sing, Mommy" both of which have been known to delay nap time in my fragile state of pregnancy. But today he got in bed all by himself. I am aware that this might be a sign of the apocalypse. But I'm just going to go with it for now because he's already asleep, and I'm about to be. This time, weird is good.

Liem's Lesson: Mommy's still an okay mommy. :)

My new favorite picture:

Adventures Alone: Day 2

Liem: 28 months
Priscilla: 7 days

My daughter is one week old. One week ago now, I was waiting to be taken to the recovery room. I was wondering how I had just survived natural childbirth. Now, I'm cuddling with my sweet blessing and saying I'd do it all again---and I would :-)

Today's lessons were definitely completely new.

Lesson 1: My 7 pound daughter has a hidden talent---very hidden. And I must admit, I would have been just fine had I never learned this about her. What is so special? My daughter can projectile poop. She can shoot at least 6 inches (the distance from she to myself at the time) without losing any air. Of course, I wasn't home when this happened, so I couldn't change clothes. I will begin carrying an extra outfit. (I did this with my son, just didn't know I needed to start this already.)

Lesson 2: My son needs no additional fiber in his diet---especially not an adult-sized serving containing 9 grams. He had one of my husband's fiber bars for breakfast. It's yummy, and my husband needs the fiber. My 2 year-old son, not so much. I changed LOTS of BIG, nasty poopy diapers today.

Lesson 3: Four consecutive hours of sleep is better than any drug---not that I've ever tried any for comparison. I'm just sure that there is no greater gift than that of sleep. Priss slept through a feeding last night and I slept four blissful hours in a row. Sweet, sweet sleep!! This was not a new lesson; but it's certainly a confirmed one.

All in all, it was a very good day. My time alone was longer, but better than yesterday. I was less intimidated and more in control. (I say this with confidence today.)

Adventures Alone: Day 1

Liem: 28 Months
Priscilla: 6 Days

Today is the first day that it is just me and the two children. I am intimidated. But I am Mommy, and I'm in charge and in control . . . right? Thankfully our alone time today is sandwiched between help from Daddy and Grandmommy.

I really believe that parenting is a series of lessons learned by both parents and children. The lessons for parents are, hopefully, one-time lessons; we take them in, repeat the successes and abandon the failures. The lessons for our children, we teach over and over in different ways until they have mastered the lesson. The lessons change over time, and methods are honed, but the lessons continue.

Today, I am afraid the lessons are mostly mine.

Mommy's Lesson 1: Little Ceasar's pizza gives Priscilla an upset stonach. The pizza, of course, came in the form of Mommy's milk ---not the pizza itself. This unfortunate lesson came at 2:30 this morning, and didn't end until 5:30. At 5:30, there was lots of gas and a dirty diaper.

Mommy's Lesson 2: Liem has a weak stomach. It wouldn't have occurred to me until today, but he's never seen another child throw up. He saw me sick a few times early in pregnancy; but for the most part, I distracted him before I took a few minutes to be sick (when I could). For whatever reason, seeing Priscilla spit up (very normal for babies) was different. So when Prissy spit up a little, that sent Liem over the edge. Next thing I knew, my bed held both Priscilla and Liem's breakfasts.

Mommy's Lesson 3: Just keep the two year old in the bathroom with you. I'm always trying to convince Liem that he doesn't need to come to the bathroom with me. Today, I succeeded. I won't do this again. When I came out, he was "washing" both his and Priscilla's hands with the soap he had swiped when I wasn't looking.

Liem's Lesson: Soap is only for the sink; and Prissy doesn't need it yet.

It's only 10:30 a.m. and there's time for many more lessons today. But maybe school is out for the day . . . I hope.