Things I Love

Warm spring evenings, before the bugs are out.

Watching Nur and TT forge strong love and bonds with their grandparents. 

 Giving my children similar memories that I had as a child.

Grandpa's boat rides and conversations.
Nur and TT's giggles and inside jokes.

 Summer hats and shades as we head to a picnic.
The smell of sunblock and the feel of greasy protected skin.
The smell of clorine from the neighborhood pool.
The feeling of warm sunshine on my face.

 A garden planted with the help of the two best kids, who take so much pride in helping out.

The look of joy as I walk through the door everyday after a long and hard day at the office. 

Days spent in our backyard where clothing is optional.

 Cousins and best friends. Everytime I look at my niece, I get a glimpse into my sister 30+ years ago.

 Afternoons of indulgence, with a fresh cut and color. 

Nur and TT's relationship with T.

 A glimpse into what my daughter will look like in 7 years, because this is what this big cousin looked like 7 years prior. 

 Fun in the kitchen, sampling frostings, and not caring for a minute what the sugar content is because darn it, we are having fun. 

Documenting life with this family of mine.  And hopeful that someday when they have families, they will look back fondly on their own childhood and try to imitate it, the same way I am trying to imitate mine. 

Duck Dynasty for Sarah

So, I'm not going to lie. . . I've never seen this show.  Well, I had never even heard of this show until very recently.  I have no idea what the premise is.  At all.  I'm guessing it's a country sort of show?  But really, I have no idea.  But that's not the point.  Okay - let me get to the point. :)

A little background on this situation.

I am from a small town.  According to some people's measurements, perhaps a village is the more likely word for it.  Growing up, there was a little over 1,000 people in my small town of Eyota, MN, and last I heard it is now up to almost 2,000.  I wouldn't change anything about where I'm from or how I grew up.  I love the city life of Minneapolis now, but there is something wonderful and enduring about growing up in Small Town USA.  The best part?  Hands down. . . the people. 

There was a girl a year younger than me in school named Sarah.  The sweetest girl you could ever meet.  Kind, big-hearted, and everyone's friend.  Just a wonderful and deserving person. 

Life has thrown Sarah some major curveballs, the most recent one being her husband, the love of her life, being diagnosed with cancer.  I've been following the carepage that Sarah has set up for her husband, and this woman is inspirational.  She maintains a positive outlook through all of this, when no one would fault her for being down in the dumps.  In so many ways, her life has been a living hell for the past couple of years, yet she finds something to be grateful for every single day, while raising her four children, taking care of her husband, and just keeping the positive outlook that keeps her family going.

Sarah wants to create an amazing summer for her family, and one of the things on their wishlist is to win a Duck Dynasty Camo Cameo Contest, where the winner will win a walk-on role in a Duck Dynasty TV Commercial.  It's SO easy to vote too!  All you need to do is click on this link:


Http://bit.ly/13vvDDC

And click the like button.  Let's do this for Sarah!!!  I can't think of a more deserving person.

Everyday Happenings

The things these kids are doing and saying these days, cracks me up.  Of course, this age is also proving that I need to reach deep inside of myself to find a level of patience that I never knew existed.  Wow, am I having a difficult time having my 3 and a half year old, and almost 3 year old to listen!

I'm going to start with TT.  She will be 3 in less than 2 months.  And honestly, I have to remind myself that she isn't my 5 year old child.  This girl just seems leaps and bounds over an almost 3 year old.  What do I know though?  This has been my only experience with a toddler girl. 

TT is officially pacifier free!!!  T and I were going to wait until she was 3 and then go cold turkey.  But, TT bit through the only 2 pacifiers we owned, and I refused to buy more, and well, it's been going pretty well.  She hasn't even asked for one.  Just proves that I don't have a clue what she'll struggle with and what she won't.  I'm enjoying seeing her beautiful lips, instead of seeing her side-talk through that hideous nuki!  Yay TT!!!

TT also decided a couple of months ago that she would not wear a diaper, even at night.  She was done because she was a BIG girl.  So, we started watching her liquid consumption before bed, and she now holds it every night, with the VERY rare accident.  She wakes up in the morning, runs to the bathroom, and unleashes.  Such a big big girl.  She can quit growing up so fast though.  I'm losing any resemblance to the baby I once knew.

TT weighs 29 pounds, but has gotten quite tall.  When she is sideways, the girl can disappear.  There is just nothing to her!  I have started buying her 3T clothes, and she continues to pick out her outfits.  I try to positively influence her choices, but she usually puts ridiculous outfits together, and prefers to live in a swimsuit.  She cracks me up daily.

And speaking of cracking me up, she says the funniest things now.  Just yesterday she said to me, "Mama, I'm still a little girl, but when I'm a big girl, I'll have big boobies just like you mama."  WHERE does she come up with this stuff?  No really?  OMG!  Then later in the day, we were getting dressed to go to the park, and were finding clothes in her closet.  Her bedroom is our former office, and it is the smallest bedroom in the house, and it has the smallest closet.  But it has more than enough room to fit TT's things, I assure you.  Yet she says, "Mama, I want a big closet like Nur and Mama and Baba have."  What?  You're 2!!!  You cannot be complaining about your small closet already.  If you are, I can't even imagine what you'll be like as a teen.

TT would eat only protein if we let her.  She loves steak, bacon, chicken, you name it.  Anything meat, she loves!  She continues to be a little lover.  Her hugs when she wakes up in the morning continue to melt me.  She hangs on to my neck so hard, it's just precious.

Nur, Nur, Nur.  He has also gotten quite tall (by my standards) and I'm buying 4T clothes for him, and weighs 31 pounds.  He is a kind and sensitive child.  He will come up to me, out of the blue, and tell me that he loves me, and it melts me every single time.  And yesterday, he said, "Mama, you're so pretty."  Oh man, What a little charmer!

The boy wants to live outside, and now that the tundra has thawed out, we are able to be outside a lot more.  He'll run and run and run, and never tire.  We also bought him a basketball hoop and he has quite the skill, and I enjoy dreaming of all he'll do in his life. 

Nur also tends to be the rationale one in the family.  As his sister is throwing a fit because she didn't get the bowl that matches the shirt he's wearing, Nur will allow me to switch out what I gave him to appease his sister.  (It's all about choosing battles, right?)  Nur will then look at me and say, "See mama, I'm not crying."

In a dinner rush one evening, I gave Nur canned ravioli, and well, he ate the entire can and turns out it's his favorite food in the entire world.  Every meal, that's what he asks for.  I remember being into that as a child too, so I can't knock it I suppose. 

Nur continues to be the BEST sleeper.  He loves sleep, goes down easily, stays down, and I am very thankful.  He is just a great child with a big heart. 

I'm looking forward to a summer filled with lasting memories. 

Potty Stuff

I haven't talked about all things "potty" in a while, so I thought it was time for a little update.

One of the many things I've noticed as a parent, is that we like to take credit for things our kids excel at, but we also like to blame ourselves if something doesn't go right with our children.  Having two children, so close in age, who for the most part, I parent the exact same way, has made me realize that every child is wired differently and if something does or does not click with them immediately, it's not all about me.  At all. 

Let's talk about TT and the potty.  The girl turned 2, and she was ready.  She was exhibiting all the signs of being ready, so we decided to give it a go.  I had a candy jar for rewards, a sticker chart, potty books, and you name it, and within a week, the girl was in big girl underpants that she got to pick out, and was rarely having an accident.  We attempted to do pullups before underpants, but to TT, there was no difference, and she refused to wear pullups.  We started going out of the house and praying she wouldn't have an accident.  We keep a potty chair in our van, and people laugh at us, but man, that thing has saved us on more than one occassion.

We have continued to diaper her at night, and I have felt no rush to get her out of nighttime diapers.  Only, she takes them off.  She hates the feeling of a diaper on.  (Can't blame her)  But I was doing a lot of laundry for a while cause she was wetting her bed almost nightly. 

Then a couple of weeks ago, the entire family was on a shopping expedition, when TT saw a pillow pet that she HAD to have.  I had her ask her father, and well, she is wrappedaround is finger, so of course he said yes.  Both T and I gave her a big talk about how she couldn't take her diaper off and wet her bed because it would ruin the pillow pet.  (We know this from experience from the two she had previously ruined due to saturation of urine) We told her that she had to sleep in a diaper, and no more wetting her bed.  Well, she took this to a whole different level, and decided that she would just stay dry at night.  And if she had to go potty, she would yell for me (never her baba, figures) and that I would take her to the bathroom.  We have now gone an entire week without diapering her at all.  And not one accident.  I would say my almost 3 year old (2 months from today! Wow!) is fully potty trained.  I'm so proud!!!

And then there is Nur.  We tried to potty train him the exact same time that we did TT.  To us, it just made sense to attempt this all at once.  After about 2 weeks, the nanny and I decided that he just wasn't ready.  We didn't want to hurt his self-esteem, and he clearly wasn't getting it, and that was okay.  Again, we started to train him at the same time as TT, even though he wasn't showing the signs of readiness.  The boy still likes to poop in his sleep.  (Telltale sign that he's not ready) The thought of being in a diaper where he's sitting in his pee doesn't bother him.  He's never tried to take his diaper off by himself, and he never comes up to me to tell me that he's pooped.  We have revisited the potty chair a few times since last summer, and once in a while, he will go potty in the chair.  But when I ask him if he went potty, he'll say no, but when I look, I see that he did, which makes me think it was just a coincidence. 

I'm not concerned at all that my 3 and a half year old isn't potty trained.  He'll get it, I have no doubt about that.  Something will switch in him eventually, and I'll continue to revisit it, and probably even go hardcore this fall.  But until then, there is no shame in wearing diapers.  Boys tend to take longer, especially when they are verbally delayed.  (Although I would argue Nur is now caught up in that regard)

All kids are different, and I'm grateful for the experience of parenting both Nur and TT because that is evident in everything they say and do.  There are so many things that Nur excels at that TT still struggles with.  I'm doing the best I can as their mother, and I know sometimes things will click with them, and sometimes things will happen more quickly.  Either way, I know it's not my fault, and I know it wasn't my brilliance that got TT trained so quickly. 

I enjoy knowing that it's not all about me. :)