Believe it or not, I'm actually having a battle right now as I type. Every night it's the same battle. Tell Aiden it's time for bed, he gets in and out of bed several times as he makes up excuses and tries to manipulate me into letting him do anything besides going to bed. We always start in his room and he often either finally ends up going to sleep as I sit stirring with irritation and anger after at least a half hour long battle...or...he makes his way out to the living room where he eventually crashes on the couch or floor since at this point I'm so pissed and just want him to go to sleep no matter where it's at. At this point he could sleep on the kitchen table for all I care! All I know is these battles need to end pronto! I absolutely hate ending our nights on a negative note. I get upset with him, lose my patience and my me time begins with frustration and anger as I crack open a bottle of wine or beer to relax and try to enjoy what little adult time I have.
Just in the time I've typed this Aiden has moved from the living room floor, to the couch and now back to the floor. It comes down to the point of me just having to ignore him. I either turn off the tv and listen to some music, or turn something on that's of no interest to him so eventually he could care less what's on, get bored and fall asleep while he obviously fights every second of it. If he only knew how amazing sleep is! One day he'll learn and then I'll be dragging his ass out of bed each morning for school!
We recently ordered custom made bunk beds for the boys that are being delivered tomorrow. We have high hopes that the wow factor will make Aiden want to sleep in his own bed, and for the whole night. I have yet to mention that even when I do successfully get him to sleep in his bed, every night or early morning he makes his way down to our bed where he once again takes control and hogs my side of the bed often forcing me to sleep on the couch. Yup, we have major issues on our hand. No need to point that out to me. Anyways, I know the bunk bed idea could totally backfire on us, but we have our fingers crossed...tight! He has told us that sleeping up high would help so the monsters and ghosts can't reach him. Smart kid, right?!
Okay...nobody speak, nobody breathe! Aiden has crashed! I will soon move him to his bed and see his sweet face again around 3 in the morning as he crawls into bed with me and Don. Not the end of the world. It could always be worse. I just hope and pray that our battles become less and less as he learns there's nothing to fear, sleep is a wonderful thing and mommy is here for him forever!
Sweet dreams Aiden....now pour me a glass of wine!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Never Ending Wrath (and laughs) of Liam.
I can't even begin to tell you how much of a sweet handful my little Liam is! I know I've mentioned this just a few times before, okay, maybe a few hundred times, but his wild and crazy actions never cease to amaze me every day. All I can say is there is never a lack of entertainment and madness in the Sweet household! I suppose it's better then a boring household, so we'll keep Liam around and keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't destroy our entire home, or my sanity, in the mean time.
Aiden was nothing like Liam when he was a baby. He really never got into much and was quite content with whatever toys we put in front of him. He liked to play with the kitchen pots, pans and utensils, but for the most part he wasn't a very curious baby getting into everything like Liam does. I honestly don't remember Aiden even once rolling the toilet paper all over the place. And he never really got into any cupboards, or we'd have put the child safety locks on them, which many are still lacking and giving Liam a free for all way too often. Aiden was never a climber and didn't feel the need to explore the unknown much, unlike Mr Liam who is all over the place from the top to the bottom of the house. It's so interesting how brothers who came from the same parents can come out so different. Aiden is much more difficult now as a sassy and demanding preschooler then he ever was as a baby. Lets just hope Liam is the opposite and gets easier and more laid back with age. Hey! Wishful thinking never hurt anyone! :)
Every day is a new day with Liam and I swear he finds something new to get into all the time. He has this mischievous enjoyment of shaking our lamps until they fall and in some cases even break. He also loves to shake the living room end tables until everything on them is on the floor. It's nuts! He recently shook one of our end tables so much that the bolts came loose and were later found on the floor! Yesterday he shook the lamp until it fell over onto him and into the Christmas tree. Good lord! I have no idea how this tree is still even standing! It may only be partially lit, missing a string of cranberry beads that Liam broke and missing several ornaments that are now broken as well, but the thing is still standing so that's all that matters!
Yesterday Liam also shook another side table that has a built it lamp on it until the lamp shade fell off! This is his favorite table to shake, rattle and just about roll across the floor. I have no clue what the fun is in this game of his, but I sure hope he gets over it soon. Sometimes I can't help but laugh because he looks right at me, gives me a little stinker grin and runs full force ahead to the table. As I'm yelling no at him he just laughs at me. Can you believe this kid?! He laughs whenever I say no, like yeah right mom! I'm going to do what I'm going to do and you can't stop me!
To top it off he is a major food thrower. At first he would just throw a piece of food onto the floor to let me know he's done. Now it's become another little stinker game of his he likes to play just to drive me crazy. He will literally look right at me, get a huge shit eating grin on his face and chuck food clear across the kitchen as I run over to attempt to stop him. He laughs and he laughs. All I can say is it could be worse. I could have carpet in my dining room and oh what an even bigger mess that would create. Yesterday I gave him some fresh rotisserie chicken that he's always loved. He took one bite, spit it out and chucked the rest all over the floor. I picked the mess up as he started to chow on his mac n cheese. Sure enough, moments later I was picking up mac n cheese from not just the floor, but the counter, the stove, the coffee maker and the dishwasher. Talk about a good arm on the kid! Hmmmm.....maybe I should sign him up for baseball soon?
Liam might be a huge handful, but he is as sweet as sugar and brings tons of smiles and laughter into our chaotic home as well. He is way ahead of his age, as the second child tends to be, but of course because he's my child he seems like a genius to me! He has amazing eye and hand coordination and even already eats with silverware! Aiden didn't do that until he was two and a half! One of his most favorite things to do is put coins into their piggy bank. It's adorable! We just might have an accountant on our hands! I'm just thankful he hasn't ate any of the coins....yet!
I'm such a proud mama. I know my boys aren't perfect and honestly I prefer it that way. I'm not a perfect parent and I'm okay with that too. Parenting and perfectionism mix like oil and water....it doesn't work and only makes for one stressed out and unhappy mama! My boys might piss me off daily, but the sweet comments they make and the little loving gestures they do out of the blue and the smiles and laughter they bless me and Don with always outweigh the things they do to tick me off and stress me out on any given day.
Aiden was nothing like Liam when he was a baby. He really never got into much and was quite content with whatever toys we put in front of him. He liked to play with the kitchen pots, pans and utensils, but for the most part he wasn't a very curious baby getting into everything like Liam does. I honestly don't remember Aiden even once rolling the toilet paper all over the place. And he never really got into any cupboards, or we'd have put the child safety locks on them, which many are still lacking and giving Liam a free for all way too often. Aiden was never a climber and didn't feel the need to explore the unknown much, unlike Mr Liam who is all over the place from the top to the bottom of the house. It's so interesting how brothers who came from the same parents can come out so different. Aiden is much more difficult now as a sassy and demanding preschooler then he ever was as a baby. Lets just hope Liam is the opposite and gets easier and more laid back with age. Hey! Wishful thinking never hurt anyone! :)
Every day is a new day with Liam and I swear he finds something new to get into all the time. He has this mischievous enjoyment of shaking our lamps until they fall and in some cases even break. He also loves to shake the living room end tables until everything on them is on the floor. It's nuts! He recently shook one of our end tables so much that the bolts came loose and were later found on the floor! Yesterday he shook the lamp until it fell over onto him and into the Christmas tree. Good lord! I have no idea how this tree is still even standing! It may only be partially lit, missing a string of cranberry beads that Liam broke and missing several ornaments that are now broken as well, but the thing is still standing so that's all that matters!
Yesterday Liam also shook another side table that has a built it lamp on it until the lamp shade fell off! This is his favorite table to shake, rattle and just about roll across the floor. I have no clue what the fun is in this game of his, but I sure hope he gets over it soon. Sometimes I can't help but laugh because he looks right at me, gives me a little stinker grin and runs full force ahead to the table. As I'm yelling no at him he just laughs at me. Can you believe this kid?! He laughs whenever I say no, like yeah right mom! I'm going to do what I'm going to do and you can't stop me!
To top it off he is a major food thrower. At first he would just throw a piece of food onto the floor to let me know he's done. Now it's become another little stinker game of his he likes to play just to drive me crazy. He will literally look right at me, get a huge shit eating grin on his face and chuck food clear across the kitchen as I run over to attempt to stop him. He laughs and he laughs. All I can say is it could be worse. I could have carpet in my dining room and oh what an even bigger mess that would create. Yesterday I gave him some fresh rotisserie chicken that he's always loved. He took one bite, spit it out and chucked the rest all over the floor. I picked the mess up as he started to chow on his mac n cheese. Sure enough, moments later I was picking up mac n cheese from not just the floor, but the counter, the stove, the coffee maker and the dishwasher. Talk about a good arm on the kid! Hmmmm.....maybe I should sign him up for baseball soon?
Liam might be a huge handful, but he is as sweet as sugar and brings tons of smiles and laughter into our chaotic home as well. He is way ahead of his age, as the second child tends to be, but of course because he's my child he seems like a genius to me! He has amazing eye and hand coordination and even already eats with silverware! Aiden didn't do that until he was two and a half! One of his most favorite things to do is put coins into their piggy bank. It's adorable! We just might have an accountant on our hands! I'm just thankful he hasn't ate any of the coins....yet!
I'm such a proud mama. I know my boys aren't perfect and honestly I prefer it that way. I'm not a perfect parent and I'm okay with that too. Parenting and perfectionism mix like oil and water....it doesn't work and only makes for one stressed out and unhappy mama! My boys might piss me off daily, but the sweet comments they make and the little loving gestures they do out of the blue and the smiles and laughter they bless me and Don with always outweigh the things they do to tick me off and stress me out on any given day.
Friday, December 9, 2011
All I Want for Christmas is my Sanity
I would give anything to be able to take a glimpse into the home of another stay at home mom with two boys to see how she does it and if she is often just as overwhelmed as me. I know I'm not alone, but to be able to physically see that other moms deal with the same issues I do on a daily basis would honestly do my sanity wonders.
99% of the time I absolutely love being a stay at home mom and wouldn't trade it for the world. However, on those other 1% days I ask myself if I'm the right person for this challenging job. Today is sadly one of those days. I hate feeling this way and am always caught off guard by the feelings as well. These feelings are often followed by me hiding out in the bathroom and quietly crying as I try to decompress, take some deep breaths and suck it up to do what I have to do...caring, nurturing, teaching and loving my boys endlessly no matter how crazy they make me at times.
This morning started out good. I got some terrific sleep filled with some sweet dreams, including one of my hottie celebrity bad boy crush Eminem. You can't not wake up with a smile on your face after dreaming about him! Hee hee hee! Anyways, the boys got up and played well together...at first. That quickly changed and lead to some massive fights followed by loud cries and a river of tears. There is nothing worse then having to deal with screaming and crying kids first thing in the morning while you're still trying to wake up and start the day off on the right foot. It was quite obvious that the wrong foot got the best of our household and my head soon began to throb. Aiden had two time outs by 8am, I had already lost my patience several times and the wrath of Liam had quickly begun to torture our house and everything in his path!
The minute I try to do something as quickly and as simple as going downstairs to make our bed and pick out my clothes for the day, I return upstairs to find Aiden had crashed Liam into the Christmas tree on his ride-on bus creating a huge needle mess, the toilet paper had been completely rolled out all over the bathroom floor, Aiden had eaten candy off the gingerbread house breaking off chunks of the icing all over the kitchen counters and Liam was playing with the disgusting toilet plunger. Wow! It was enough to make my head spin! Maybe on other days when I hadn't already lost my patience I would have been able to handle these findings with a much more positive and humorous attitude, but thanks to the way our day had already started I was by far in no mood to clean up mess after mess all while trying to keep the boys from not killing each other too.
Challenge? To say the least! It's like one of those days when I used to work outside the house and all day long I had to repeat to myself, I love my job, I love my job, I love my job....because most days, I do.
This is when my positive attitude comes into play. I take lots of deep breaths, hug my boys, remind myself how grateful I am and things could always be worse. Then at night after I put them to bed, I pour myself a glass of wine and unwind to start all over again the next day.
Thank God Don and I get to have an adult only night out tomorrow because we both need and deserve a break.
So Santa, I have been a very good girl this year and have been dealt an awfully bad life hand one too many times in return. I understand that that's life sometimes, but it'd sure be nice if you could sprinkle some of your Christmas magic over my household this season so we can put an end to the darkest year of our lives with a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Erin
99% of the time I absolutely love being a stay at home mom and wouldn't trade it for the world. However, on those other 1% days I ask myself if I'm the right person for this challenging job. Today is sadly one of those days. I hate feeling this way and am always caught off guard by the feelings as well. These feelings are often followed by me hiding out in the bathroom and quietly crying as I try to decompress, take some deep breaths and suck it up to do what I have to do...caring, nurturing, teaching and loving my boys endlessly no matter how crazy they make me at times.
This morning started out good. I got some terrific sleep filled with some sweet dreams, including one of my hottie celebrity bad boy crush Eminem. You can't not wake up with a smile on your face after dreaming about him! Hee hee hee! Anyways, the boys got up and played well together...at first. That quickly changed and lead to some massive fights followed by loud cries and a river of tears. There is nothing worse then having to deal with screaming and crying kids first thing in the morning while you're still trying to wake up and start the day off on the right foot. It was quite obvious that the wrong foot got the best of our household and my head soon began to throb. Aiden had two time outs by 8am, I had already lost my patience several times and the wrath of Liam had quickly begun to torture our house and everything in his path!
The minute I try to do something as quickly and as simple as going downstairs to make our bed and pick out my clothes for the day, I return upstairs to find Aiden had crashed Liam into the Christmas tree on his ride-on bus creating a huge needle mess, the toilet paper had been completely rolled out all over the bathroom floor, Aiden had eaten candy off the gingerbread house breaking off chunks of the icing all over the kitchen counters and Liam was playing with the disgusting toilet plunger. Wow! It was enough to make my head spin! Maybe on other days when I hadn't already lost my patience I would have been able to handle these findings with a much more positive and humorous attitude, but thanks to the way our day had already started I was by far in no mood to clean up mess after mess all while trying to keep the boys from not killing each other too.
Challenge? To say the least! It's like one of those days when I used to work outside the house and all day long I had to repeat to myself, I love my job, I love my job, I love my job....because most days, I do.
This is when my positive attitude comes into play. I take lots of deep breaths, hug my boys, remind myself how grateful I am and things could always be worse. Then at night after I put them to bed, I pour myself a glass of wine and unwind to start all over again the next day.
Thank God Don and I get to have an adult only night out tomorrow because we both need and deserve a break.
So Santa, I have been a very good girl this year and have been dealt an awfully bad life hand one too many times in return. I understand that that's life sometimes, but it'd sure be nice if you could sprinkle some of your Christmas magic over my household this season so we can put an end to the darkest year of our lives with a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Erin
Monday, December 5, 2011
Just Another Walmart Adventure
This morning I was anxious to get out of the house with the boys. Why exactly? I'm not too sure considering it's only 19 degrees and snowing. I forget how much work it is bundling up both boys and myself just for a "quick" trip to the store. But if I don't suck it up and venture out, we'd be stuck inside all day everyday for the next several months as winter has clearly arrived.
So, needless to say, the boys and I bundled up this morning and began just another one of our Walmart adventures that almost always never cease to amaze me. Whether it's the people we see, something we find, or something one of the boys does, a trip to Walmart usually never fails us to be a form of pure Sweet family fun and entertainment. Wow! Did I really just say that a trip to Walmart can be entertaining???!!! What has come of me???!!! Either I need to get out of this town or I'm getting old and it no longer takes much to entertain me.
We begin with some simple grocery shopping. I come across these cute toddler juice bottles with Tigger on top to sip the juice from. I hand it to Liam to keep him occupied as he seems thrilled to have it in hand. He continuously plays with it and tries to drink it as we finish our grocery shopping and head to the kid's winter boot department as we came to discover Aiden's boots no longer fit him so he had to wear his rain boots yesterday to play outside in the snow. I begin to have Aiden try on boots, which quickly became a whining and complaining battle with me having to threaten him that we won't go look at toys if he doesn't cooperate and try the boots on. Next thing I know, the Tigger sippy thing from the juice is on the ground and Liam has poked a hole in the juice cover and was proceeding to drink it and spill it all down the front of him! This is something he loves to do at home as well. He gets into the fridge, grabs a little smoothie, pokes a hole in the top with his teeth and sucks on it until it's either gone or spilled all over the place. Anyways, I become distracted with the juice fiasco, put the Tigger lid back on and toss it into the cart. I finally get Aiden to try on a pair he picked out himself - camouflage ones of course - and he miraculously likes them and they fit. He tosses them into the cart and we're officially "done" shopping.
At the end of each of our shopping trips there I always let the boys look at the toys for a few minutes if they were good. For the most part they were this time, so onward to the toy section we go. Not to mention this gives me some time to scope out toys to get them for Christmas as well. Liam is now cleaned up from the juice, we got all our groceries, got Aiden new boots and were having fun checking out all the new toys that have come in since our last visit when all of a sudden Aiden says, "Mom, my shoe is missing!" I look down at his feet and sure enough his shoe was missing! Did I seriously forget to put his shoe back on after trying on boots and he seriously just walked across the entire store with only one shoe on?! OMG! I couldn't help but begin to laugh hysterically. We instantly rush back to the boot section and sure enough there was his shoe. Thank goodness it was still there! We quickly get his shoe back on and head to check out when Aiden picks up a candy cane filled with candy Runts. I agree to get them for him and we once again, head to check out. As I quickly whip our stuff through the self checkout lane I all of a sudden hear a quiet crash and there went the plastic candycane onto the floor where it broke open and Runts went everywhere. I silently began to count to 3 in my head just waiting for the explosion of cries and tears that were sure to follow. 1, 2, 3.....whhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom is always right! Thankfully the checkout lady was very sweet and understanding and sent someone to get him a new candy cane. The poor boy could barely breathe by the end of the incident. Hmmmm.....maybe I should keep a bag of Runts around for bribery if he loves them that much.
By the time I was done checking us out and putting everything in our cart I was in need of some serious deep breaths. I bundled us back up and headed back out into the cold for the drive home. Thank you Walmart for the laughs, tears, smiles, good deals, people watching and pure craziness that lead to our little adventures and break up the monotony of our days at home. Until next time....
So, needless to say, the boys and I bundled up this morning and began just another one of our Walmart adventures that almost always never cease to amaze me. Whether it's the people we see, something we find, or something one of the boys does, a trip to Walmart usually never fails us to be a form of pure Sweet family fun and entertainment. Wow! Did I really just say that a trip to Walmart can be entertaining???!!! What has come of me???!!! Either I need to get out of this town or I'm getting old and it no longer takes much to entertain me.
We begin with some simple grocery shopping. I come across these cute toddler juice bottles with Tigger on top to sip the juice from. I hand it to Liam to keep him occupied as he seems thrilled to have it in hand. He continuously plays with it and tries to drink it as we finish our grocery shopping and head to the kid's winter boot department as we came to discover Aiden's boots no longer fit him so he had to wear his rain boots yesterday to play outside in the snow. I begin to have Aiden try on boots, which quickly became a whining and complaining battle with me having to threaten him that we won't go look at toys if he doesn't cooperate and try the boots on. Next thing I know, the Tigger sippy thing from the juice is on the ground and Liam has poked a hole in the juice cover and was proceeding to drink it and spill it all down the front of him! This is something he loves to do at home as well. He gets into the fridge, grabs a little smoothie, pokes a hole in the top with his teeth and sucks on it until it's either gone or spilled all over the place. Anyways, I become distracted with the juice fiasco, put the Tigger lid back on and toss it into the cart. I finally get Aiden to try on a pair he picked out himself - camouflage ones of course - and he miraculously likes them and they fit. He tosses them into the cart and we're officially "done" shopping.
At the end of each of our shopping trips there I always let the boys look at the toys for a few minutes if they were good. For the most part they were this time, so onward to the toy section we go. Not to mention this gives me some time to scope out toys to get them for Christmas as well. Liam is now cleaned up from the juice, we got all our groceries, got Aiden new boots and were having fun checking out all the new toys that have come in since our last visit when all of a sudden Aiden says, "Mom, my shoe is missing!" I look down at his feet and sure enough his shoe was missing! Did I seriously forget to put his shoe back on after trying on boots and he seriously just walked across the entire store with only one shoe on?! OMG! I couldn't help but begin to laugh hysterically. We instantly rush back to the boot section and sure enough there was his shoe. Thank goodness it was still there! We quickly get his shoe back on and head to check out when Aiden picks up a candy cane filled with candy Runts. I agree to get them for him and we once again, head to check out. As I quickly whip our stuff through the self checkout lane I all of a sudden hear a quiet crash and there went the plastic candycane onto the floor where it broke open and Runts went everywhere. I silently began to count to 3 in my head just waiting for the explosion of cries and tears that were sure to follow. 1, 2, 3.....whhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom is always right! Thankfully the checkout lady was very sweet and understanding and sent someone to get him a new candy cane. The poor boy could barely breathe by the end of the incident. Hmmmm.....maybe I should keep a bag of Runts around for bribery if he loves them that much.
By the time I was done checking us out and putting everything in our cart I was in need of some serious deep breaths. I bundled us back up and headed back out into the cold for the drive home. Thank you Walmart for the laughs, tears, smiles, good deals, people watching and pure craziness that lead to our little adventures and break up the monotony of our days at home. Until next time....
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