Blogging at naptime.

Though we had an incredible summer filled with trips and new memories, it’s also been a really challenging season of parenting these last few months. So naturally I sat down to write out a few of the ways I would define my past 8 years of parenting experience for all of Instagram to glean from! 💁🏻‍♀️⁣ ⁣ Parenting is...using Google to diagnose my child’s every ailment (eczema, allergies, sleep struggles, sniffles, coughs, food pickiness, etc). ⁣ ⁣ Parenting is...reading 852 online articles about how to raise children, and failing the author of each of those articles consistently. ⁣ ⁣ Parenting is...having one child very much like me and two children quite different than I am, and learning to see that as an opportunity to grow rather than ongoing defeat. 😬⁣ ⁣ Parenting is...apologizing to my kids regarding MY behavior more often than I care to admit. ⁣ ⁣ Parenting is...going to the birthday party of my best friend’s 5 year old twins where my three year old proceeds to give

I'm in a season of parenting where each day can seem to come and go without a notable amount of significance. I begin with coffee and cozy pants and trying to get Emma to school on time without out violating too many traffic laws. And I end with desperate times of reading my "She Reads Truth" devotional and begging Jesus to undo all of the many ways I have messed up my children that particular day. I also consume healthy late night snacks, occasionally throwing in a deadlift here and there to balance out my 10pm nachos.  There is currently a lot of boundary testing and ongoing parental coaching regarding emotion management with one of our children. I won't say which child it is, but I will say that he is sweet and snuggly and funny and wildly creative..and I was woefully unprepared for the BIG emotions of tiny male human people, whoever they might be.  I didn't know going into this whole deal of raising humans that the emotional atmosphere of an entire day

My areas of expertise in life are not terribly extensive. I can mentor people on the fine art of reheating one cup of coffee 14 times over the course of six hours, I have an impressive track record of birthing non-sleepers, I can wander Target for hours on roughly four hours of sleep without ever getting tired, I can eat chocolate while my children are mere inches away and they have NO IDEA, and I am a conservationist of sorts, saving tons of water over the course of my motherhood by rarely showering (you're welcome earth. And the people who have to live with me.) One last area of knowledge I have to share with the Internet is the extensive research I've done regarding the best toys out there for kids. We are almost 7 years into this tiny human journey so I have plenty of confidence in these choices. #1. Guy Guys and Pom poms These two items have been a staple in our home for well over 6 years now. The "Guy Guys," as Emma affectionately named them as a todd

I fully intended to stick with my beloved tradition of blogging at least once a year on New Years Eve, but sometimes sick toddlers interfere with both my 10pm nachos and my blogging efforts.  I did however manage to still eat ice cream,  watch Ryan Seacrest wearing a giant coat, drown out the incessant war zone of fireworks happening outside by using 8,000 sound machines, and look intently at my TV trying to understand how Britney Spears still looks 25. Are we simply distracted by the sparkle heart on the back of her underwear/bikini costume? We cannot know. We are only 4 days into 2018 and I have already done some push ups, read part of a chapter of a book (Christine Caine, you inspire me), removed the remnants of Christmas from my house (minus some peppermint bark and peanut butter fudge...not my fault), been sneezed on approximately 14 times by tiny humans, been to the walk-in clinic with one of these same humans, washed my hair once (I think), and almost wore real people pants

So, I've concluded that mice are a lot like children in that they have a knack for revealing your greatest flaws. My children like to bring to light the fact that I am not quite as patient, easy going, and angelic as I believed myself to be approximately 6 years ago. The mice that have taken up residence in our home like it's a thriving Airbnb destination enjoy bringing up the reality that the floor food I have lovingly provided for my baby, and the leftover dinner remnants from the elder children are the perfect nighttime snack for any vermin taking in the sights after rummaging through my cupboards. Perhaps at times the occasional piece of white cheddar popcorn becomes lodged between the couch cushions at approximately 9:30pm. Maybe there are chocolate chips in there. Maybe a slice or two of pepperoni. Whatever! Stop shaming me for wanting some alone time, mice!  Obviously none of these mice are mothers or they would possess some compassion for my solitary snacking ne

As I sit down to type this, I hear the gentle sounds of my favorite nighttime TV family (The Hecks on The Middle) and the scurrying of the tiny (or GIANT!?) feet of the critters that have taken up nighttime residence in our cupboards. First of all, let's establish the fact that this is NOT OKAY ! I can kill an occasional spider if it is reasonably sized and doesn't appear like it could pick up my baby. I can hide in a bedroom like any sane human being until my husband returns, should a bee of any variety somehow enter my house uninvited. I once ate the leg of a fried tarantula in Cambodia. But four legged rodents rummaging around in my pots and pans is absolutely unacceptable. It's also rude of them to point out the fact that my home contains enough of my baby's floor food to encourage this kind of trespassing! My husband has procured special "food" to ensure they are eradicated, and Pinterest tells me to put Peppermint oil on cotton balls, which I'