Smiling Through the Rain

The debut of Mommy Confessionals was such a hit that I felt strongly that we needed another installment. Your comments made me laugh and I really appreciate that one of my favorite blog friends commented three times... What warms my heart is the fact that other women are willing to admit that they aren't cookie cutter perfect either. Facebook in particular can make a person crazy with all the ideal family pictures and cutesy patootsy comments about their children's accomplishments and adorableness. Seeing everyone else's Pinterest projects and hearing about the terrific homemade meals they've all conjured up in their domestic bliss makes me wanna poke my eyes out. Sooo, thanks to each of you for playing along. It makes me feel "normal". And honestly, my kids are happy with their unperfect, nonscheduled, messy, chaotic and unstructured lives. We wouldn't want it any other way! I am already racking up a list of confessions I have yet to reveal. ...

Let me begin by saying that this very well doesn't apply to most of you. I know there are lots of moms who have it all together and do perfect little mommy things and love every minute of it. But then there are women like me. I know they're out there. Tired, walking around with awfully neglected hair and mysteriously stained clothes, wondering how they forgot to pack diapers yet again. We'll just pretend this is the Mommy Confessional. I have stood outside my car for several minutes in the pouring rain just to enjoy the silence for a moment before getting my screaming children out. I have dumped turds into the toilet and then put a diaper back on my daughter when I forgot to pack any. I have let my daughter leave the house wearing pink cowboy boots with orange sweatpants and a red shirt. I have bribed my child with suckers. I have let my babies co-sleep with us. Both of them at once on occasion. And I happen to love it. I have mourned the loss of my lif...

Am I the only person who apparently cannot read the ridiculous letters and numbers on captcha? You know the ones that you have to enter to leave a message on certain blogs or buy concert tickets or enter other secure sites. Pretty sure it would be easier for me to buy a plane ticket to fly halfway across the planet to hand deliver my message I want to leave or pick up the tickets I want. I mean, didn't they used to be actual words that could be read? Now it's like aPcoo94yuv. Except it's all slanty and run together. I shouldn't be confused about whether it's a lower case q or an upper case W. They are entirely different letters. They whole thing makes me think maybe I am the hacker they're trying to keep out...

We had an excellent trip to Vegas and the kids were so good! It was great having my mom and Aaron around all the time to help out. I got to enjoy the kids more instead of being so busy trying to do it all alone. They both were great on the flights save for a 2 minute fit Paisley threw on the way there regarding the complete disgust that she would have to sit in her OWN seat during landing with the seatbelt on. GASP!! But they both slept the whole way home and had a great time there. We all went to tournament of kings and mom took Paisley to the Blue Man group. We shopped and went to Siegfried and Roy's magic garden and an awesome aquarium. We got to go to the Adventuredome and Paisley was tall enough to ride a lot of rides now, which my little daredevil was excited about! I am happy to say we all survived without any incidents...

Just to answer a few questions left on my previous few posts: 1.) We do have another vet who fills in for us while we're away. He is actually the one who built the practice back in 1982 so he knows everything there is to know on how to run it. He even still works for us on Wednesdays so we can get that day off since we work on Saturday. Plus, he was my family vet growing up which is an extra bonus. 2.) The two kid thing. Yep, hardest thing I've ever done. My heart is sooo torn all the time. It's every single day that I'm nursing Graham and Paisley says in the sweetest little voice, "play with me"... Try to tell her no. You'd have to be the world's suckiest human being. So I try my hardest but at this point I feel like Graham gets 75% and she gets 25%. And I hate that. Yeah, my mom and Aaron fill in the gaps by playing extra hat with her but I miss US!!! Thanks for all the support on my previous post. Misery loves company and it turns...

Well, I may have officially went bonkers. And if I haven't yet, I probably will by the end of this week. We are going on our first trip with BOTH kids. We've traveled a lot with just Paisley and it has actually been smooth sailing minus the whole Diaper Crisis of 2011 you may or may not remember. The moral of that story is that cruise ships do NOT think that any parents on board would be stupid enough to not pack plenty of diapers. Therefore, they do not sell them anywhere. Also learned that swim diapers are not a good alternative as they do not hold in urine AT ALL. Lots of good info from that experience. In fact, I joked that if we had been the unlucky people stuck on this latest cruise ship, we would be screwed. Our diaper supply would have ran out many days ago and the amount of bath towels we'd be using as diapers would be astonishing. Anyways, tomorrow we board a direct flight for Las Vegas to go to my husband's annual vet conference for 5 days. An P...

Am I the only one who is struggling to find some sort of balance in my life? I feel like I am constantly searching for the recipe for harmony while struggling to be a loving wife, attentive mother, and somewhat elusive office manager. And to think that I would still like to work as a PA part time again!!! The days just feel like I'm juggling. I want more down time to just enjoy my sweet kids and talk to my neglected husband and maybe even play with my forgotten dogs! But it seems like from the moment my head leaves the pillow, I am rushing to keep things in order. And even then, I feel like I fail. There are diapers to change, meals to eat, naps to take, baths to conquer, clothes to pick out, hair to fix (Paisley's, never mine), laundry to do, dishes to wash, a baby to nurse, toys to pick up, etc.... The list is never ending. And then to split my time fairly is a whole other issue. Paisley is at an amazing age. And she loves to tell me stories and play and pretend....

These two kids make my heart happy!!!

I give Paisley a hard time on here because I love telling the funny stories about her being stubborn or awful. But it isn't really fair to spread the bad side all over the Internet without also sharing the good. Paisley may be stubborn and somewhat difficult to manage at times but she is also incredibly funny. She now knows she's humorous and will laugh openly at herself. She likes to call us silly names like "giraffe ears" or "poopy mess". She is ornery and silly. We love to make goofy faces at each other, chase dada through the house and make games out of everything we do. The girl is amazing in restaurants. She will sit in her own chair (no high chairs for this diva), and keep herself mostly entertained throughout an hour long meal. She loves to be on the go. We are out and about more than we are home and she behaves very well. Once we get in the car. You all know how much she likes that. We've taken her to Vegas twice, Mexico, Dominican...