Being a Stay at Home Mom is.....

I was talking with the lady who does my hair not long ago about being a stay at home mom. The first thing she asked me was, "So, is your house always clean since you're home all day?" Ha! If only! Then it dawned on me, I probably had the same assumption when I was working (and before I had kids). I laughed as I explained to her that the reason I'm home is so we can do fun things together that ALWAYS inadvertantly trash my house (playdough, glue, cook together, build forts, etc)

It is a vicious cycle of getting my house 100% trashed and then having enough time to get it 80% clean. Cut to the next day with my 80% clean house...we trash it again by making pancakes together in the morning and then finger painting, etc. Again, I only have time to clean up 80% of the mess (at best), so I'm left with a 60% clean house. The next day, we do it all over again. I think you get the picture. By the time the weekend hits it looks like a bomb went off. I find beads from Mondays art project still under the table, my cell phone in the laundry basket (courtesy of Chloe, which she most likely did when I was busy cleaning up our bead art session), socks under the recliner, one kids shoe in the laundry room (the other one is still missing), etc.

Man, these little creatures really can make a big mess while I'm still busy trying to clean up the mess that just happened. Sigh. I often think my house would be cleaner if I worked full time, that way we'd only spend a few hours a day in it as opposed to all day.

Before I became a stay at home mom, I would day dream of being at home with my kids in a perfectly clean house (because after all, I was home ALL DAY), with something in the crock pot for dinner, kids involved in activities while I quietly watched from the sidelines. HA! Oh, and by the way, I always seemed to be showered/dressed/makeup on in these daydreams. How wrong I was.

So to set the record straight, being a stay at home mom is....

• Being there for your kids from the minute they get up till the minute they go to bed


• Leaving dirty dishes in the sink to go play My Little Ponies for the zillionth time that day because you know eventually your kids will want nothing to do with you.


• Never peeing alone and usually eating 2 of my 3 meals while standing.


• Taking 30 minutes to cook a box of Mac and Cheese because your kiddos want to put on their own apron, pick out their own spoon, pour each ingredient into the bowl, mix it with the personally hand picked wooden spoon and spoon it into their own bowls.


• Leaving the house unshowered because you decided to let your kids in bed with you to make a fort and play under the covers instead of send them away while you take a shower.


• Mid day walks/tricycle rides thru the neighborhood the instant it stops raining.


• Turning the task of loading the washing machine into a 3 person job because everyone wants to help.


• Building memories with your kids all day long.


• It really is the most rewarding job in the world.

That said, I love my girls and being home with them, love afternoon nap time and am starting to accept the fact that my house will always be a wreck, my life will always feel unorganized and it will always take 3 times as long to get something down when you have little helpers around.

Life is all about the journey....

Art

We are knee deep in wet, soggy, grey Oregon winter. This is always the hardest time of year for me since I really like to get the girls out doors as often as possible. Cabin fever doesn't really sit well with any of us.

Luckily, we all love to craft. And equally as lucky, Santa seemed to know that and brought us some wonderful items for all of our art projects. At least once a day, the girls find themselves busy with some sort of sticker - playdough - paint - markers - glue project. Often times, one project contains a little of everything. Hey, whatever makes them happy!

Grace loves to paint birdhouses. You can find these things at Joanne Fabric for $1. Money well spent! Green is her favorite color, as you can probably tell. This project really lives on. Once the paint dries, she heads outside to fill the house with sticks and leaves (bird bed, of course) and then chooses a perfect spot to hang the house in one of the trees in the back yard. Good times.
Chloe refuses to be left out of anything. I mean ANYTHING. Painting is also one of her favorite art projects. This is so much work for me since it usually involves being stripped down to a diaper, paper taped to the high chair and a good 20 solid minutes of clean up which always includes a bath for at least one child. Oh well, this is what staying at home is all about!

Somehow she actually managed to paint both legs and the underneath side of both feet. Also notice the paint around her mouth. She must suck on the paint brush when I'm not looking because her entire tongue was blue. Oh well. Crayola paints are safe, right? RIGHT?

If I could carry her with tongs to the tub I would.

A few other random pictures of the girls. Here is Chloe and gang watching Sesame Street. This girl loves all things Sesame, especially Cookie Monster (or Coo Coo, as she calls him)

Grace has really come a long way with pretend play. It's so cute to see her come up with story lines for her animals. Usually she is playing My Little Ponies ALL-DAY-LONG. I don't have any pictures of her doing this yet because I always get roped into playing with her. She loves these horses. It's adorable. I just have to keep telling myself that. Mostly because it's true and partially because I am so sick of playing My Little Ponies.

Grace also likes to play with the stuffed animals that she sleeps with. She decided to play restaurant one morning for one of her favorite customers "Big Caterpillar". Apparently Big Caterpillar enjoys chips. Then again, who doesn't?

That's all from our house!

It's like having your own chef. Sort of.

I feel the need to blog about myself today and one of the greatest Christmas gifts I have ever received.

First, a little context. The best part of my morning is a piping hot cup of coffee. It's what gets me going and is like a little treat that I get just for hauling my sleepy booty out of bed. I find it especially important to start your day with coffee when you have little kids in the house. Rarely do I actually get out of bed when I want to. So, it really is my morning treat.

Since Aaron doesn't drink coffee (I know, how is this even possible???) I usually get up and make it myself. My old coffe pot was HORRIBLE. It was the best coffee pot $9 could buy and only kept coffee luke warm. Not good. So, Aaron decided to buy me one of those super nice coffee pots that you can set a brew timer and actually wake up to the smell of coffee. Kinda like that old Foldgers commercial...sing with me now "The best part of waking up is Foldgers in your cup." Kind of like that, but totally better because I don't buy crappy Foldgers coffee.

I must say, coming out of my room to the smell of hot coffee in the morning is nothing short of AWESOME. It's like having your own chef...well, if your expectations of your chef are really low and you only expect her to make coffee.

Chloe is 15 months old

Chloe actually turned 15 months old on Dec 12th, so the fact that I'm actually doing this post during her 15th month of life is nothing short of a miracle!

We had her 15 month appointment recently. She is healthy and tracking at a great rate. She was 22 lbs 3 oz (30th % - she really dropped in weight once she started moving), and 33 5/8 inches tall (actually off the growth chart on height. Somewhere around 100+ %! Where did she find the time to grow that much???)

She only has 5 words right now that are actual words (Mama, Dada, Grace, Cookie - as in Cookie Monster - and Thank You) but she thinks she says much, much more than that. She picks up on the "S" in every word and ends up just pointing at things and saying the "Ssss" sound. Technically, she's not that far off when talking about the words she knows, such as: cheeSe, ShoeS, juiCe, treeS, SandboX, etc. You get the idea. Who knew we used the 'S' sound in so many words?

It is so hard to believe that in a few short months I will have a 1 1/2 year old. Seriously, where did the time go? It seems you just concentrate on making it thru the first year with your sanity in tact and then want to freeze frame life after that.

Chloe, you are growing up too fast! We love, love, love you!
Love,
Dada, Mama and Zace (as you would say)

Well, that went by fast

I'm convinced that time never moves faster than the first year of your babies life. Not that you actually realize it at the time! I compare it to a really busy day at work. You have your head down working like crazy and all of a sudden it's lunch time. Then back to work and before you know it, it is time to head home for the day. Crazy busy but in retrospect, time just flew by. And so went 2011 at our house. It was our first full year with 2 kids and I think we were well into the year before I finally started to find my stride as a full time mom of 2 little ones. (I think I'm still working on this! Something tells me it's a never ending task and I'll feel like I have it mastered by the time they go to college...and not a moment earlier!)

Some highlights of the year were 1. Going on vacation with the kids. Perhaps I should clarify, we brought major backup in the form of grandparents. I highly recommend it! It was only a short week at a beach house, but I'm making the executive decision that it was, indeed, a vacation. 2) Seeing all of Chloe's firsts...first steps (at 9 months), first word (dada), first time she waved, her first tooth (which took its sweet time actually breaking the skin.) first birthday. 3) Watching Grace find her stride as the 'big sister'. I'm convinced this is what she does best. She loves Chloe and prides herself in being a big helper. I love it and am so proud of her! 4)Grace's first day of preschool. The list is endless.

Last January seems so far away. I have one kiddo in part time preschool and a walking, somewhat-talking toddler now. Last year at this time I had a 3 month old and a 2 1/2 year old. Amazing. Oh how things have changed.


December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

Such a blessed year. We love you so much, girls!