Day 7: cuddly kids

The girls have been wanting to be held so much lately. While this can be tough because they both tend to want to be held at the same time, I love it! They are growing up so fast and I am loving each and every cuddle, big and kiss. They are the sweetest little girls and I am the most blessed mom!

Please think before you speak!

Today a lady was talking about how her baby gets called tiny and skinny a lot. This bothers her because her son has feeding issues and she has tried everything to get him to eat what others would call "normal" amounts. When she hears others talk about how her child is smaller than others it makes her feel guilty, like she isn't doing the right things, which is not at all true.

I on the other hand with Aleigh would get "oh you have such a big baby", "my how old is HE? HE looks huge for his age", "oh boy she is healthy, I bet she likes to eat". The list could go on and on really.

One time I even had a group of ladies walk by and one loudly decided to say "that is the fattest baby I have ever seen" she was immediately hit in the arm and shushed by her friends. None the less Jake and I both heard. We wanted to jump her and retort back some rude comments about how chubby she was herself. Trying to be the bigger person I kept walking, and have since forgiven.

Society these days makes moms worry and feel awful about the amazing job they are doing. The majority thinks they are better than the other person, or they just think they can "fix" it all.

The list can go on and on about subject matter that keeps moms up all night long.

Attachment parenting vs. what detached? (As if the opposite is what any good mom would want). Oh but wait a sec. you do want them to learn to do things on their own or they will never get anywhere in life.

Cosleeping vs. Making them sleep in their own cold dark beds. But wait a second some say cosleeping is risky as their is a greater risk of SIDS. Plus you once again hear horror stories of your teenagers wanting to still sleep in your bed.

Cry it out vs. a million other methods to get your child to sleep. The glorious nights of 8+ hours of peaceful sleep. This is what everyone dreams of and everyone thinks their method of getting there is right and the other is way way wrong.

Breastfeeding vs. Formula. Women and Dr's make it seem like if you don't breastfeed your baby you are a failure as a mother and your baby is going to end up with an awful immune system and will be obese! Formula feeding moms, this is NOT true, do some research. Don't feel bad about doing what is best for yourself and your baby by giving formula. I say it is a gift from God and my kids are as healthy as can be. I was a much better mom once I gave up breastfeeding as I was depressed, stressed and in the worst pain of my life trying to breastfeed and this was from a mom who gave birth to 2 kids epidural free.

Stay at home mom vs. working mom. Just stop ladies, stop with the judgements. Just know you are each doing your absolute best to raise your kids the best way you know how.

Child spacing is another one. My kids as you probably already know are 363 days apart. People just think they can talk to you and give you advice on how to space out your kids age. I thought this was all up to God? Apparently not. I have talked to some who would love to have their kids close in age but couldn't get pregnant. One lady told me I should pray to God for a boy and go for it immediately, yeah we are done having kids but thank you for the advice little old lady at McDonalds. When we told my pediatrician that I was pregnant with Amelia he asked if we would have any more after that. We said no and he said "thank you". Oh you are welcome I had no idea I was doing you a service by not having any more kids.

Some others are:
organic everything vs. Non
home schooling vs. Schools,
vaccines vs. Not vaccinating,
home birth vs hospital birth,
Feeding your baby solids at 4-6 months vs. 6+ months vs. baby led weaning.
Drug free birth vs. Give me the drugs now!

I am sure the list could go on and on but I honestly have forgotten everything that gets debated on because I just generally do not care anymore.

Just stop comparing ladies! Watch what you say. Only say kind things. Dont talk about physical features of someones baby unless it is to say how cute they are, or how pretty their eyes are. Stop judging and if you are the one being judged just learn to let it go in one ear and out the other. I used to let it get to me until I was at the point where I could barely sleep at night I was so worried I was doing something wrong with my child.

Now I just laugh on the inside, smile, walk away or change the subject.

Let mothers follow their own instincts again, as they are the only ones to know what is best for their kids.

Moms I suggest you throw out all the parenting books and follow those instincts God gave you. It is so much less confusing this way, and you will finally truly enjoy your kids instead of constantly worrying about them.

Know you are the best mom for your kids and you are very different from other moms as God made you different and God made your child different. You know what is best and in your eyes your child is perfect, and that alone should be good enough for you.

Day 5: mud tastes good mommy!

Amelia gets to wear all of Aleigh's hand me downs. Some were stained and thrown away but most were still in good condition. Today I took some time to scrub all of Aleigh's outgrown shoes and get them clean for Amelia to wear.

I filled up a big bucket of water and put a few things in there for the girls to play with while I use the water to do some scrubbing on the shoes.

Aleigh had a blast which was nice for a change, the last few months she has been fearful of any water and this time she was splashing water all over herself and me, we were drenched.

When I was done with the water I dumped it in the yard because it needed some water anyways.

Aleigh then walks over and splashes in the mud puddle in her brand new white sandals. Oh well I thought she normally runs from the dirt so I will let her play in it as long as she wants. 20 seconds later she comes running to me crying and trying to take her shoe off. She didn't like having dirty feet so I grab the hose and spray them clean. She then was as happy as can be with clean feet.

As I went to put the shoes inside the house I turned around and there Amelia was sitting in the mud, digging her fingers in it.

This is new for me. Aleigh never liked getting dirty. I thought it was funny so I grabbed my phone to take a picture. That is when Amelia decided to try and eat the mud then rubbed it all across her face.

We headed straight for the bath. Aleigh does not like the dirt and was freaking out, she didn't want me to touch her until I wiped the mud off my arms.

These girls keep me busy but my oh my are they fun.

Day 4: The girl's first pet died last night. :(

Day 4:

Our pet fish named Sunshine died yesterday evening. Aleigh knew who sunshine was but I thought she only paid him attention when we were feeding him, cleaning his tank or would mention his name. Turns out this was not the case and Aleigh had somewhat of an attachment to Sunshine.

I was not prepared to have to explain to Aleigh that a pet had died. I figured oh well Kea is 6, she still has years left so I never even thought about what to say to Aleigh.

Jake walks over to the tank and says uh oh I don't think Sunshine is doing so well. Aleigh and I immediately run over. Turns out he was already gone. Aleigh gets a very confused look on her face. Jake then takes Sunshine out and goes to flush him down the toilet. I was explaining to Aleigh what happened. She hears the toilet flush and gives a very worried sounding cry and runs to the toilet, lifts the lid and looks in with a scared look on her face.

I then think OK maybe she will forget about it and will be fine. This morning in 3 hours she went up to the fish tank pointing and basically asking where sunshine was without actually talking. Each time I had to explain to her that Sunshine isn't there anymore, he was sick and had to go to fish heaven and get healed. Today she looked for Sunshine 4 times. I never knew she gave that much attention to the little angel fish.

I think I will now look into breaking the bad news to a kid and try to figure out the best way to do that. I have no idea. Fish Heaven just came out of my mouth and I stuck with it.

In other news a sweet neighbor dropped off the Sunday paper on our doorstep this morning. It makes me want to pay it forward to someone else. There are still a lot of thoughtful people out there. Sometimes watching the news you start thinking this world is full of terrible people. This simple nice gesture brings me back to the true reality.

I have such wonderful neighbors, I really am blessed. Once I had a huge box of Diapers given to me by a neighbor. Another time I had 2 handmade bags and a baby blanket given to me. Another time some coupons. The last time a lady dropped off a bag full of snacks for Aleigh, now the newspaper.

Tomorrow I am going to help an older neighbor clean up his house. He offered to pay me some money to clean it as he just doesn't have the time or energy to and he thinks he is having some family come visit him soon.

Day 2 & 3

I never got around to writing about a real mommy moment yesterday so we will rewind and talk about it today.

Day 2: Yesterday my sweet husband let me go for a run. Those me time moments are a blessing. Running to me is a stress reliever and it makes me feel good all in one, so I am very thankful that 2-3 times a week Jake watches the girls while I go for my run.

Usually while I run Jake and the girls go along with me whether it is a ride in the stroller or some playing in a grassy field or time to play on a playground. Yesterday we went to a beach park where they have a mile long trail by the ocean, I love running there. The ocean is always a beautiful turquoise and sometimes the surf is up beating against the rocks. It is therapy to watch and makes running longer distances easier.

When I was finished we let the girls roam around. Amelia is such a curious little girl. She also loves the great outdoors and playing in the dirt. She is obsessed with little leaves, grass, sticks, flowers and rocks she will find along a walk. Once she picks up her treasure she immediately walks as fast as she can away from you because she thinks she can eat the item once she is far enough away. She is a silly mess. But I sure do love her.

Day 3: Stroll in the rain. The days Jake works I take the girls for a mile long walk in the stroller. I love these walks. The girls are almost always so calm and quiet during these walks , and I know they enjoy them just as much as I do.

I am going to miss these daily strolls. Soon enough the girls will be old enough to walk the whole way and know how to cross a street safely. These walks will be full of chasing kids, hearing them talk and laugh and watching them skip down the sidewalk. I will miss these quiet peaceful moments. I will miss being able to really look at the trees and feel the wind on my face. Soon I will be so busy keeping the kids safe that I am going to forget those wonderful moments.

Because I know I will miss these strolls, that is why I take them everyday. One day we will not live in paradise. The weather will not be warm 365 days of the year. In Hawaii it does rain though and it can come and go very fast. It is always hard for me to tell if it will rain here. Today we went for our walk and about 1/4 mile from our house it started pouring. I couldn't run home so we took shelter under some trees. The canopies of the trees in Hawaii are amazing. They are like this perfectly formed shelter, all the branches are high so you never have to duck. They are the perfect trees for a picnic.

The rain lasted about 5 minutes then we continued our walk. It was a refreshing walk. There is something about letting yourself get a little wet from the rain. It somehow takes your worries away and makes you feel like a kid again. I think I enjoyed it way more than Aleigh and our dog did.

30 days of real life mom moments

I came across a lady's blog and she is taking a challenge to write about an every day mom moment, to record those moments that leave us moms shocked, pulling out our hair and sometimes at the point where all we can do is laugh. I am going to take this same challenge because these moments right now might seem stressful but one day I will miss these crazy times and with two little ones these days can be crazy.

Day 1: We drove to a beach on the other side of the island in hopes the girls would enjoy seeing some sea turtles, since Aleigh loves animals. Negative. We strapped them in their car seats, listened to the same few songs over and over to make Aleigh happy. She is very sad every time her favorite songs end and let's face it, sometimes it is just best to keep them happy. We pull up at the beach and there aren't any sea turtles soaking up the sun.

Aleigh is not a fan of the ocean right now, she hates it really. As soon as we find an ant infested place to sit she immediately starts pointing to the area we came in signaling she wanted to leave. She is very good really about remembering small details like where to leave any situation she is uncomfortable in.

We decided to wait a little bit to see if any turtles would come up on the beach, and to see if Aleigh would warm up to the idea of the ocean. Negative, she had to be held the whole hour we were there. Amelia on the other hand is like me in the sense that she somehow always gets covered in sand every time we are near a beach. That little girl really enjoyed herself and for that reason the drive was all worth it, turtles or no turtles.

Stay tuned for the other 29 days.

Personalities

The whole purpose of this blog is to write about my kids so I can one day in a few years print it out and have those memories for decades to come. I now want to talk about my kids personalities.

Aleigh at the moment is 22 months old, almost 2! That can't be right. She is still very shy around others. I am very thankful though that she doesn't scream when other people glance her way anymore. Sometimes she will give a puppy like cry when someone is giving her a little too much attention. That's OK she might just be shy through childhood, I was too and I am fine.

Aleigh loves animals. The only thing she will watch on TV right now is the Lion King because of the animals. She is obsessed with the movie. If we are watching something else on TV she will go and get her movie, hand it to me and point back to the TV. When that intro. song comes on she has this look on her face that is absolutely priceless. I hope she keeps that face the rest of her life and shows it everytime she gets that excited. She loves her animal books and going to the zoo. Taking her to Petco is like Heaven on earth to her.

Aleigh is learning to talk. I really think she will be talking by the time she turns 2 now. She just started trying to talk a few weeks ago by babbling a ton. Now she will sometimes repeat easy babbling after I say it like mama, Dada, and other random sounds and mixtures of letters. She really thinks she is talking now but I have no idea yet what she is trying to say. This is a HUGE accomplishment from my little "eehhh" girl who used to only say that a million times a day for maybe 8 months.

Aleigh is such a caring little girl. Anytime Amelia is upset because she wants something Aleigh will give it to her to make her happy. If Amelia is in another room and I call to her "Amelia where are you", Aleigh will stop whatever she is doing kind of scared like and run to Amelia. If Amelia is crying Aleigh will pat her on the back, crouch down and give her the look that says it's OK Amelia.

Aleigh is very strong willed. If she wants something she wants it. She has come so far in the last 4 months though and when I say no not right now or you had too many nutrigrain bars already she now puts it back, without me asking, and will accept whatever else there is. She is such a good kid.

Aleigh is a child of routine. She wakes at the same time, wants me to pick her up out of bed the exact same way everyday and immediately wants to eat. She gets really excited about our daily walks in the stroller and wants to walk out of the stroller at an exact spot every single time. At night she had to go through the exact same routine and if it gets changed up at all you can tell by her confused expression, and then she will usually cry a little more if it is changed.

When Aleigh is overly hungry nobody is happy. I understand this because I can also be a little bit of a grouch when I am hungry too.

Aleigh loves to be held still. She loves to cuddle and she is still pretty attached to me. She likes the extra comfort before bed and likes to hold our hands while walking.

Other likes of Aleigh's are making silly faces, being tickled, helping me with chores especially the laundry (she has to hold every hanger after I hang the item, or she will throw a fit), her no name lizard friend in the backyard, watching the rain, running as fast as she can and chasing me while I go for my run. She also loves to go up and down stairs, she is obsessed really. She loves looking through pictures and taking pictures all by herself even if they are all of the floor or her feet.

My prediction is Aleigh is going to be a working mom. She is going to do well with her grades and she is going to be driven with some type of career, and she is going to succeed at it. I would like to believe she is going to be a veterinarian since she is very obsessed with animals, or perhaps a biologist or work at a zoo or aquarium like her daddy. She is a little mom already to her little sister so hopefully 30 years from now, God willing, will give us some grand babies.

I can see Aleigh being a softball player as she loves to throw balls, it is one of her favorite things to do right now and to me it seems like she has a great arm.

Some things Aleigh does not like right now are the ocean, getting her hands dirty (she will get the wipes herself to clean her hands, legs, feet, face, arms and clothes, and even when other people are dirty). She still does not like vegetables or to sit still for long. She does not like it when her favorite songs end, or when it is time to go to bed. She does not like change and new situations.

Aleigh reminds me a lot of myself in so many ways.

Amelia on the other hand is so much like Jake.

Amelia will be 11 months old in just under a week. She is also shy around others but not nearly to the extreme Aleigh was. She will give a little pout when others give her too much undesired attention and want to be held by myself or Jake but then it stops. Only a few times has she really cried from being around a stranger.

Amelia is much more of a people person. She will follow her big sister around the house all day long. She is much more interested in watching people when we go places even the zoo where Aleigh watches the animals, Amelia watches the people.

Amelia is a pro at giving kisses. While Aleigh prefers hugs, Amelia prefers a great big smackaroo. You can be laying on the floor and here comes Amelia mouth open diving right for your mouth or nose to give you a big slobbery kiss. She is the sweetest little Miss.

Amelia is learning to talk about the same time as Aleigh I think. She is also babbling a ton although her babbles really don't sound like much.

Amelia loves to dance and watch anything on TV. She will actually sit still to watch TV which Aleigh only started to do this recently. She gets really excited when other people start dancing and will always join in quickly.

Amelia loves to play chase. I think it is hilarious, I will say "I am going to get you Amelia" and she will immediately squeal and turn around and start walking as fast as those little legs will walk until I catch her and tickle her. She also loves to play chase with Aleigh. It's funny because Aleigh thinks Amelia is chasing her while Amelia thinks Aleigh is chasing her. They make me laugh.

Amelia loves to get dirty. As soon as that back door opens she makes a run for it. She will usually go straight to the dog's water bowl to splash and get water all over herself. She then she seems to always make it over to the dirt in her wet clothes and sit her butt right down in it, while digging those hands right in. She always has such a big grin while doing this that I just can't stop her. This though means she goes through clothes pretty fast and she tends to have some dirty finger nails (maybe I should find some gloves for her to wear while she digs in the dirt).

Amelia is such a care free, independent, easy going baby who doesn't demand much of anything. She is easy to get to sleep, she falls asleep absolutely anywhere if she is tired. She is happy going along with whatever we want to do. She rarely wants to be held as she always wants to go about her own way instead. The only thing she wants is love and happiness and all is right in her world.

Amelia senses others moods. She has been like this since a baby. If Aleigh was sad, Amelia was sad. If everyone is happy she couldn't be more happy. If Jake and I are stressed she senses it very easily and will get stressed.

Amelia loves vegetables. She is just now at 11 months old liking fruit. I had never heard of a baby who doesn't like fruit until Amelia. She would immediately spit it back out with either a smile on her sweet face or a cry if I tried one too many times to get her to eat any kind of fruit purée. I would then go grab some veggies and she would inhale them. Hey, I will take it I suppose.

Amelia is just now getting the hang of finger foods and still isn't doing too well with them. She just has never been much of an eater and will just be slower to catch on than most as she just isn't very interested. She loves cheerios, yogurt melts, grilled cheese sandwich, shredded cheese, Mac n cheese. I have tried lots of other foods but those are the only ones she will keep in her mouth at the moment. She must just love cheese.

Amelia is our little explorer. Aleigh loved to make a mess and get into everything but Amelia on the other hand will take it one step further and make the mess then climb over and under it. She is a risk taker I can tell. She might be the one to ride on those crazy roller coasters with Jake.

My prediction for Amelia is she will be the class president and will be the stay at home mom. I believe she will be a people person and will have some sort of career centered around others.

She is already a little gymnast. She loves to do head stands with her feet on the ground, and she has really good balance. This girl doesn't fall a whole lot and hardly ever bumps her head. I really don't have to worry about her running into things or tripping. She loves to climb onto things and people and is pretty strong for her size.

Aleigh is my rainbow and Amelia is my little sunshine. Their nicknames are Aleigh bear and Amelia is my little Miss.

Who knows how their personalities will change over the years but as of right now these kids are the best and I enjoy them so much.