Sass, sass and more sass

Elijah has always loved surrounding himself with comfort items, whether that be toys or pillows or people. Lately he has been sitting on the couch and completely surrounding himself with pillows and blankets and just lying there. The other day Sammy joined him! They were being kind to each other amongst the pillows and blankets, so I had to capture the moment. 

I tell you what, our Elijah is a tough one. I brought the boys to daycare today and accomplished a hundred things that I would not have otherwise been able to accomplish. When I picked them up, I got to hear about all of the un-kind things Elijah had done and said throughout the day. :( Our wonderful, caring daycare provider said, "Girl, you sure have your hands full!"

He tests his boundaries constantly. Honestly, there are quite a few things that are not easy with him. When things are easy, I think, WHOA! Life is so amazing! He hit a friend at daycare today (this makes me so sad), among other things, so he lost all of his privileges tonight. Despite that, though, we had some rare easy moments this evening and I couldn't believe how wonderful it felt!

We went to E's open house last night. We got to see his kindergarten classroom and meet his very sweet teachers. This is going to be such an amazing experience for him! Dan and I are both very excited to get him back into the routine of school. I want to tell his teacher that I have been praying for her since the day he was born. I have also been praying for a special little friend to recognize how special and awesome he is and to befriend him and take care of him, so to speak.

Sammy is still being his little independent, sassy, ADORABLE self. I have to be super creative in order to get him to do certain things (brushing teeth, sitting at the table, reading books, getting his diaper changed). Gotta be constantly on my toes! But man, Sammy is cute and sweet when he wants to be. I could just eat him up. He asked me for 20 minutes straight tonight to "Tickle Fammy!"

We have a super fun weekend planned! It will involve the dropzone, s'mores, a baptism, friends and family! We are excited! Thanks for checking in. Have a safe and fun weekend, everyone!

Challenges and (im)patience

I know I'm emotionally drained because I have no patience. Today was a challenging day. The boys pushed me to the brink and I didn't deal with it well. It was one of those days. And now I sit here feeling guilty for raising my voice too much and not being patient enough. Thankfully tomorrow is a new day.

One of the many things that just about pushed me over the edge today revolved around Elijah's potty issues. We had made so much progress with his last potty chart. He accomplished all of his "goals" on the chart and then vacation began, which brought much regression. Now he never uses the toilet without being asked (which is always a battle), and he has been pooping and peeing in his pants multiple times every day. I am so very frustrated.

After two (of four) accidents today and after a few other unrelated battles, I decided E needed a nap. I sent him upstairs to lie down in my bed while I cooled down. I came upstairs a little while later to take a nap with him. Thinking he was asleep, I cried a few little tears of frustration. Elijah rolled over and started gently rubbing my hair. "Mommy! Don't be sad! Be happy!" I explained to him that mommies have very big jobs and sometimes they get sad and frustrated. He continued to rub my hair (so sweet), and then said, "You are brownie-fresh and totally wild!" I have no idea how he comes up with these things! That made us both laugh for a long time. We took a little nap, arms tightly wrapped around each other (as always...he would never have it any other way).

Once we woke up from our nap, the frustration immediately began again. I felt myself growing even more impatient and frustrated than before the nap! A few nights ago we could hear another family's conversation through our baby monitor. Today I had the thought that if another family could have heard our house today through our baby monitor they would think we were a terribly unhappy family! :( I hate that. I love our family and the vibe between us 99% of the time!

Another mild frustration today was Elijah's ear issues. He has been on two rounds of antibiotics for a double ear infection in the past couple weeks and today he was complaining of ear discomfort again. :(

We are gearing up for school in a few weeks! Next Wednesday is E's open house for kindergarten. Elijah is very excited to start school, and honestly I think it will be so great for him in so many ways. At the same time, though, MY BABY BOY IS STARTING KINDERGARTEN! Major tears will be shed that day. :(

I can't write a post without mentioning Sammy! He is as independent as ever. Since vacation, he is back to refusing baths. He will not allow us to help him with ANYTHING. When I read him a book, I cannot touch the book. He has to turn the pages himself and if I even gesture like I'm going to touch it he has to start over. I cannot help him get into his chair at the table. If I try, he screams at the top of his lungs and throws an absolute fit. He is a very particular little boy!

Our boys are in very unique, challenging and different stages right now. I am praying for a little bit of peace for all of us! I do realize that we are blessed, and that our troubles could be MUCH MUCH worse. I adore my boys, all of them, more than I could ever explain in words. Thank you, God, for them! I am a blessed mama and wife. Please forgive me for not being more patient.

Tomorrow is a new day!

Our anniversary and our fiercely independent Sammy

Sunday was Dan's and my sixth wedding anniversary. Last night we got out for our traditional lovely dinner, and afterward we sat on our patio pondering the past six years. Six years ago we had no idea what kinds of adventures were in store for us! It has been quite the journey, and I realized last night how very very very blessed I am to have had Dan next to me through all of it. There were times in the past year (I'm talking months at a time) when Dan was VERY patient with me through some very dark and scary crap. Honestly, if roles would have been switched, I don't know how patient I would have been. To think about it now makes me realize how much Dan loves me and what a patient and incredible husband he is.

I woke up this morning feeling like I wanted to share more about the past year, and I wrote a lot of it out...but I don't want to freak anybody out. :) I will sleep on it. (I see that I accidentally posted a portion of it, so some of you got the story! So there it is! I guess it was meant to be that some of you know about the craziness. :)

So let's talk about Sammy for a bit, our FIERCELY independent young man. He certainly has his own ideas all of the time. A few examples..

He woke up from his nap today INSISTING that he wear "BOO SHIRT!" as seen in the below photo. Ok, Sammy, but it's warm outside, and... "BOO SHIRT!" Okie dokie, so on boo shirt went. Then we came inside and he said, "BOO SHIRT OFF!" Ohhh-kaaay, off blue shirt went. "WOBOT SHIRT!" And on went robot shirt..

And the puzzle you see in the background? He insists on putting that puzzle together all by himself, except, well, he can't. If I try to help him he yells, "NOO! NOO!" and runs away. So what I've started doing is putting the correct pieces next to each other but not snapping them in and walking away. Then he will happen upon it and click the pieces together and say, "'ook!" "Oh wow, Sammy! You did it!" Then I'll sneak back and set a few more pieces up for him.

Sammy and I often frequent the grocery store together. We usually do it while Dan is at work and Elijah is at school. But it's a bit stressful, even with just the two of us. He will NOT sit in the front seat of the cart without screaming his head off, so I usually end up putting him in the main part of the cart on his butt. The only thing that will keep him on his butt is if I set an open container of blueberries next to him. I always pray that the person checking us out will have compassion (some don't) and understand that it was necessary to eat them before purchasing. Because every time, ALL of the blueberries are gone before we get to checkout. I'm just glad it's blueberries and not candy!

Today Dan and I took the boys to a park for a picnic and park play. We could tell Sammy was a little bit extra tired. He went running across the playground toward the swings and I ran after him. He tripped and fell hard on the rocky pavement, hitting his face on the ground. He cut his lip and was bleeding a bit and cried sooo hard. :( He has scratches on his nose and upper lip. Poor guy. I hate seeing my boys in pain!

That's about all for now. We have beautiful weather this week in Minnesota, and we are loving it! We are excited for the weekend. Lots of fun adventures ahead. Thanks for checking in!