Browsing Tag

mom life

Daily Life

Christmas Michigan Trip – airport drama and our potty training solutions

Posted on December 16, 2017

11 hours after first arriving at the airport, we made it to our destination. There were quite a few tears (mostly from me ?), and we were very fortunate that my inlaws came to the airport and were able to get gate passes to help with the girls for a few while I relaxed and ate a sandwich (and had a beer?!) After multiple delays, we got on the plane 6 hours after getting to the airport (and an hour after nap time.)

By some terrible miracle, neither of the girls napped on the plane ?. Not even for a minute. Isabelle has never completely skipped an afternoon nap before so needless to say, she was pretty miserable. As was I, and probably everyone around us. In addition, her congestion was causing her to have trouble nursing so she was hungry (and not excited about the pb sandwich I brought her which is normally her fav!) So, she cried on and off most of the flight.

K held my hand a lot during the flight, which looks adorable, but made it pretty hard to bounce Belles at the same time. K was actually really well-behaved considering, just bored and over tired. And of course she only wore the brand new Minnie Mouse headphones that SHE picked out to watch maybe 8 minutes of Moana on the tv in the headrest ?.

Most of the time I love that she doesn’t really like tv… yesterday was not one of those times. The good news is she pooped in both the airport potty and the airplane potty so we are making with that! It turns out K having the stomach flu earlier this week was actually a blessing in disguise. Apparently pooping 8 times a day for 3 days really helps you get used to the potty. And now that everything is said and done, we made it to Michigan and are so excited to spend Christmas with my family!! 

Even though I know being stuck at an airport with kids because we have the good fortune of being able to travel to see my family for the holidays is the ultimate first world problem, it was a hard day for us all.

Daily Life

Meal Times with Kids

Posted on December 14, 2017

How every meal time inevitably ends up: 2 kids on my lap, food that fell out of mouths all over me, scrambling to get both girls fed at the same time, and then when it’s all over I get a couple bites of cold mac and cheese and half a chicken tender (if I’m lucky!)

Meal times these days reminds me of fight scenes in old cartoons where limbs and dust clouds are flying all over the place and there’s crying and animal noises and then it’s over as soon as it started and the dust settles and life goes back to normal. But when you’re in the middle of it…. oh man. Dinners are easier because Jason is around to help but feeding the two of them at the same time, especially with the amount Isabelle eats, it’s no easy task.

Daily Life

Desperately Trying to Find My Zen

Posted on December 7, 2017
SERIOUS POST ALERT: How do you find balance between remaining informed and letting current events and politics stress you out? I usually don’t post about current events, but I’m having a hard time finding balance lately, especially since the fires have started. I want to remain vigilant and stay aware of where the fires are so we can stay safe, and I also want to be in the know so I can feel for the people affected, as I believe empathy keeps us human, but I can’t spend all my time watching California burn.
           It’s taking such a toll on me. And it’s not just the fires, it’s the political climate lately too. I want to be aware of legislation that will affect our family and people we care about, and I want to know about upcoming bills to be passed so I have the opportunity to contact our legislators, but it’s hard to take on so much worry all the time. Part of me wants to bury my head in the sand. Ignorance is bliss, right? But that isn’t the answer either.
          I think this is all made worse by the fact that I have anxiety and am still sort of in the post-partum period but this week has been especially rough for me. I have unfollowed a lot of pages on facebook that were posting fear-mongering type articles (especially the parenting ones, which shall remain nameless….), and I am avoiding all news for the last hour before bed. I also work out, eat well 75% of the time, and *try* to get enough sleep, aside from baby wake ups. I am interested in tips other moms have. How do you find this balance?

 

Daily Life

Potty Training Struggles

Posted on December 1, 2017
After the pants pooping, I took K downtown for some one on one time. I think potty training has been really stressing her out. We also wrote a letter to Santa ? (who of course wasn’t there but will be there almost every other day until Christmas ?.) We found a guy wearing a Santa hat working at the skating rink and I asked him if he worked for Santa while nodding YES YES YES!
          He said that he did so we gave him K’s letter which said “Dear Santa, Happy Halloween. I want presents please. Little ones. I am going to poop in the potty now. And not in my pants. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Love Katie.” The original plan was to talk to Santa about using the potty but hopefully the letter will help too ?. We’re getting desperate! Then we hung out and watched the ice skaters, rode the carousel, and had her first movie theater popcorn ?!
          I was hoping to call it an early night but we missed our bus and ended up walking a mile while we waited for the next one (no sense sitting at a bus station for 30 minutes.) We ended up having a pretty good walk though and then K slept until 745 today!! It’s already starting out better than yesterday!