I Said I Would Never

So this week over at Becky’s blog ,the topic is – I Said I Would Never – things you said you would never do once you became a parent…and then of course you did.  I really like this topic because it shows that people are not always as “perfect” as they may seem to be, that everyone changes their ideas on parenting.  This topic can help you realize that something you use to judge another parent for doing, you ended up doing yourself – at least this is true for me.   I think it’s a good eye opener to realize everyone just does what they think is best and we shouldn't judge anyone for that.  

     *1*  I would never let my baby sleep in our room (in a bassinet)

I remember saying when I was pregnant with Brayden how he was going to come home from the hospital and go straight into his crib.  I laugh at this thought now since he did in fact sleep in our room for 3 months.  Since I was breastfeeding it just made sense to have him right next to me to grab in the middle of the night instead of walking like a zombie trying to make it to his room.

*2* I would never let my baby use a paci past 3 months

I remember reading somewhere to take the paci away around 3 months because at that time it is not yet habit forming and the baby wouldn't know the difference.  Well I think that lasted about 5 minutes! I realized Brayden needed that paci to calm himself down or just feel safe.  We did however only use the paci at nighttime around 1 year and at 2 years we got rid of the paci forever.

*3* I would never let my kid watch tv until 1 year

I think the recommended age is 2 before kids should watch tv but I knew that was a long shot, so I thought 1 sounded better.  Again, I just laugh at my naïve self pre-kids.  I think Brayden was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at 3 months old….and loving it! When I figured out a tv show with bright colors could calm my little man down or give me 20 minutes to fix dinner or clean, I went with it.  

*4* I would never let my child use an I-Phone or I-Pad until they were well into the toddler years, even then I thought it was crazy.

I remember seeing little kids, I mean like 1-2 years old, using an I-pad or I-phone and being able to maneuver that thing better than I could! Using apps, taking pictures, swiping left to right, I mean it really amazed me, but at the same time, I always thought, “they are WAY too young to know all that” I would tell myself I would never let my kids use either of those devices at such a young age when they should be being kids and playing with toys.  Well, lo and behold, Brayden at the age of 2 was using the Ipad like a pro! To this day my Mom watches him in pure amazement at all he knows how to do on it. 

*5* I would never yell at my kids

Ha ha ha, this one really makes me laugh out loud.  While I’m not proud of the times I do yell, it unfortunately happens. Toddlers really test you and some days I just can’t try the whole nice approach and reason with my child, so I just yell, and you know what? When I do yell, he listens.  I absolutely hate that I have to yell and I am trying to work on other alternatives – usually more time outs, but either way, I said I would never yell and that was completely false! 

I am sure there are many more things I said I would never do once I became a Mom! It's kind of fun to look back at the picture I painted about becoming a parent and how different it really is now.  

Goals for Motherhood

Ahhh it’s my first day back to blogging since our week long vacation – I will have much to post about that but first, I wanted to link up with Becky again because this topic really excited me.

Goals for Motherhood

I have never really jotted down my goals for motherhood, randomly I would tell myself things like, be more patient, enjoy all the moments (even if I want to cry at times) etc.  I thought this was a good link up subject because now I could write down my goals, and hopefully achieve them throughout this amazing journey called Motherhood.

First and foremost, I really want to learn to be more patient – I’m sure this will be on a lot of Mom’s lists and if not then kudos to you! This is something I definitely lack.  Sure, I definitely have more patience now that I’ve had kids, but it’s still not to where I would want it to be.  This is a daily struggle for me and I make myself aware and accountable and this has really helped me.  I hope that my patience only grows stronger – with my children, husband, and anyone around me.

I want to be a loving Mother, one who is always showing affection to my kids.  I definitely do this now and I’m sure it’s to the point where my kids just want me to go away :) I just hope it is always this way – obviously when they are teenagers I can’t hug and kiss them 1000 times a day but I hope we can all always show some kind of affection towards eachother.

I want to be close to my kids – I want them to trust me and know they can come to me with anything.  I want open communication – good or bad.  I literally pray for this but I know I can only do so much to ensure this happens.    

I want to be the fun Mom! I want to encourage my kids to play through imagination and I want to be right there next to them joining in the fun.  I want to always have special time where we bake cookies or some kind of special treat.  I want to be the kind of Mom who can be spontaneous.  I want to create the best experiences for my children, because that’s what I am all about – the experience.

I want to create tons of family traditions.  Most of which will come with the holidays – dying Easter eggs, visiting the Easter Bunny, making homemade Christmas ornaments, visiting Santa, building a snowman every year together, driving around to look at lights, I would love to start a tradition when my kids are older where we volunteer every Christmas holiday, I think that would be so great.  I want to have annual mini vacations to certain spots during the summer and the winter, something to look forward to year after year.

Most of all – I want to raise well rounded, loving, kind children. I want them to remember all the memories we make throughout the years and when they are older I hope they can see just how much I and their Daddy love them.    

If I could turn back time.......

Stopping over at From Mrs to Mama today to link up for her 52 weeks of blogging with a purpose – I’ve been slacking on these link ups lately so I thought it was time to participate again J

Today’s topic is If I could turn back time….  Now I can say whole heartedly that I would not ever want to turn back time because if anything was changed in my past, my present might not be what it is today, and I don’t want to change anything that I have now…well except for maybe winning the lottery.

Anywhoo, I thought about this topic and something really stuck out in my head – If I could turn back time and change something it would be how I treated my Mom during my HS years.  You see, I was not a very nice teenager.  I don’t know why/how it happened, but it did.  I turned into a mean, verbally abusive nasty little girl to the one person who probably loved me the most – my Mom.  Since my Dad died when I was younger, my Mom struggled to support me and my sister.  She did anything and everything to make sure we had a roof over our head, food on the table, new clothes, pretty much everything we needed and wanted.  And yet, I chose to give her hell through my first couple years of HS.  I don’t really need to rehash any specific details but let’s just say the way I treated my Mom is one of my biggest regrets.  I have a best friend who was the same way with her Mom and we still talk about it to this day how awful we were and we feel so incredibly bad.  We still apologize to our Moms to this day quite often.  

Of course now that I am older, wiser (ha ha) and a Mother myself, I can see everything she did very clearly and I understand it now, which also makes it hurt that much more, I always think, “how could I have treated my Mom like that?? If my kids do that to me I will be devastated…”  And I hear payback is a b* so all I can do is hope and pray I don’t get is bad or worse than I gave my Mom, although I definitely would deserve it.   

I can chalk up my “bad” behavior to many things, but at the end of the day it doesn’t change anything and I am ultimately in control of myself and my actions.  Yes, I was young, and I try to remind myself of that when I start feeling super guilty, but at least now, I can say that my Mom is truly my best friend.  She is the first person I call with any news, she is my shopping buddy, she is my children’s Grandma Deb, and she is a beautiful, caring person who I can’t imagine my life without.  I love you Mama!

5 Years From Now........

5 Years From Now…..          

I’m back linking up over at From Mrs to Mama for her 52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose.  

This weeks topic is 5 Years From Now………

I hope to be staying home full time with my kids or at least working part time a couple days a week.  I completely realize how fast time goes once you have kids and I am that Mom who wants to cherish every moment.  I want to spend as much time with them as I possibly can, as I know I’ll never get this time back

I pray to still be married to my hubby – I have no idea what the future holds, but I sincerely hope and pray that we can make it through anything and our marriage only grows stronger

I hope our children grow to have an amazing relationship with one another.  And I am excited to watch this through their eyes.

I pray that all of my loved ones are happy and healthy – this is truly all that matters and all I really want out of life.

I hope Brayden will be a respectable, thoughtful sweet 8 year old boy – it is absolutely crazy to even think he will be 8 one day.

I hope Ella will be a sweet, innocent 6 year old – also very crazy to even think about!

I pray that we are financially stable and we can be experiencing yearly fun family vacations!

Most of all, 5 years from now, I want to have amazing relationships with my children and be the best Mama to them that I can be. – Mushy, I know, but that’s me!

What I Live For

It's Monday which means I'm linking up again over at From Mrs to Mama for her 52-weeks of blogging with purpose.  This week is 10 things I live for.... this was such a fun post to write and totally could have written more but managed to wrap it up in 10:

1. My Kids – These 2 little people have made my life worth living and have shown me the true meaning of happiness.  I could not and would not to imagine my life without them.

2. My Husband – This man is my best friend, someone I can tell anything to and vice versa.  I am so lucky to have found someone who can put up with me J But honestly, I am so happy to be creating a life with him, I wouldn’t trade him for anyone…except maybe

3. My family – This is both mine and my husbands.  We both have such great families and we love to spend time with them.

4. Waking up early on the weekends and having “me” time – I am always the first one up in our house and I love it that way.  During the week this time is usually spent working out and then it’s time to get ready and go to work.  I don’t workout on the weekends so this time is spent usually going to get my DD coffee first thing then back home to browse the www or catch up on a show.

5. Friends – I can’t live without the friendships I have, although they are very few, I am still grateful for them and am so happy I have them to talk to about everything and anything.  

6. Coffee – My best friend.  I have always drunk coffee but since having kids it has become a regular every day occurrence.  I don’t drink more than 1-2 cups but I definitely need it to function.  If I could have DD coffee everyday, I would be one happy Mama.

7. Summertime – I love nice weather just as much as I love the snow.  I love when it stays light out longer and we have more time to play when I get home from work.  We spend hours outside when it’s nice out and I love it.  My kids are getting fresh air and Brayden is getting plenty of exercise.  

8. Fall – I love everything about Fall.  The leaves changing and the weather becoming a little cooler to wear boots and sweaters.  I love going to the pumpkin patch with the kiddos (and hubs) and drinking warm cider, buying fudge and watching Brayden frolic around all of the pumpkins. We love spending time together carving and painting our pumpkins and then of course dressing up for Halloween.  I use to care less about Halloween but now I am so that cheesy Mom who gets super excited to dress her kid up in whatever she chooses.

9. Christmas – I love everything that comes with Christmastime.  Snow, sledding, making hot coco, decorating the house and the tree, buying and giving presents, making cookies, the list goes on. Since having kids all of these things have become even better.  My heart melts thinking about all of the memories we make around this time of year.

10. Pictures – I could not live without pictures.  I love taking pictures of our kids and capturing the memories that I know I will someday forget.  I am so happy that I am pretty good about staying on top of making photo books because I know when the hubs and I are older, we are going to be so happy we can look back through them and see how our family grew.  I love scrapbooking as well and without pictures that wouldn’t be possible.

Who Am I???

I'm linking up over at From Mrs to Mama today to show who I am...... this is my very first link up! Enjoy!

I am wife to an incredible guy.  We met when I was 14 and dated in high school then had a break, then re-connected.  I am so thankful that he randomly came back into my life. He is an amazing Daddy, Our children are so lucky to have him. I cherish my marriage and hope and pray that no matter what, we will make it through anything.  

I love being a Mother more than anything in the world.  I didn’t grow up daydreaming about getting married or having kids, yet I have done both, and kind of at a young age. My kids have changed my life 100%.  They have made me a better person and really have shown me what life is all about.  I absolutely love seeing life through their eyes.  I sometimes just catch them doing something so simple, putting a puzzle together, playing with a play phone, and the tears just start streaming down.  It’s in those moments I am watching life that I (with the hubby) created and it is a feeling that I can’t even put into words, simply amazing

I am obsessed with taking pictures of my kids.  I’m sure it’s annoying to some, but I will never regret having tons of pictures of what makes me the happiest.

I am getting pretty tired of social media…except blogging.  Is that social media? I’ve never been a tweeter or an instagramer, but Facebook is becoming more of a nuisance lately. I’m OK with blogging and Pinterest J

I hate that I have to work full time and be away from my kids – it literally breaks my heart on a daily basis.  One day soon, I hope to be home with them.

I love going to the movies, I think it’s mostly for the popcorn and the cherry coke (only time I drink pop!), but none the less, still love it.  

I love to hang out at home.  Since getting married, having kids, buying a house, I have really become a homebody.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m too tired to do anything else but a perfect day would be relaxing at home, playing in the backyard, BBQ’ing.

I have  little no patience.  This is something I struggle with on a daily basis.  I can say however, that since having kids, it has gotten better, but I can also say without a doubt that I still have tons of room for improvement…this will forever be a work in progress.

Head on over to check out the other bloggers at From Mrs to Mama