Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Entertaining a Toddler

     Like almost every other appliance in the house, our washing machine decided to break down last week. The other morning we were finally able to get a repair guy out to take a look. Of course they never give you an actual time they will show up! They simply say I will be there in the morning and call when were are 20 minutes out. 

     There I was confined to our house with a toddler & a baby. I asked myself the same question I have asked 5,067 other times, "What do we do?" Pj (Payton) is still in the stage where she either sleeps or eats with a little play in between. No brainer for her.

   I look down at sweet (*cough *) little Knox's face to see it has "entertain me" written all over it. Sigh! I should probably tell you that my parenting style usually involves a lot of independent play for him. I definitely make sure he and I get some one on one time, but for most of the day he plays by himself. Lately though he wants me to entertain him or let him watch "choo-choo" aka Thomas the Train. 

 Seen as how we didn't have much else to do I decided to break out the paint. We had a lot of fun for all of 8 min. and then he was done. He had painted several pictures, but got bored very quick. Here is some of his lovely artwork. 











      I feel like I am at a standstill with how to help Knox find activates to do. Of course there is TV and iPad, but I am trying to limit the time with electronics. For the first couple of months (ok, I will be honest the first 6 months) of Pj's life I did what I had to do to survive. That involved a lot of time in front of the TV or playing on the iPad. I do not for one second feel guilty, but now that we have a routine going I would like change that. 

   I will be turning to the O so many pins I have pinned on Pinterest. I am ALWAYS open to suggestion, in fact I beg for family and friends inform me of any activities you have found fun and helpful throughout the day! To be specific I am looking for things to entertain Knox while we are at home. We have plenty of play dates and fun things to do outside the house, but we can't go out EVERYDAY! Being on a budget doesn't always allow for us to travel elsewhere. Even if these activities are free, the gas to get to said activity is not :) 

Follow me along as I try to figure out if I am crazy or not to try plan activates for a toddler to do!

** Disclaimer: In no way do I base how many activities I have planned for the kids as a guide for how I am doing as a mom. I have known other moms who beat themselves up for not having made a craft or gone on a fun adventure that week. That's not how I roll ;) It is an area I can use improvement on, but I will not be anxious or worried if nothing really changes. So, if you never see another blog post about this again just know more important stuff came up! I will be making an effort though.


 What are some of your favorite activities to do with your kiddos?


 Does it work best in your house to have planned activities or just roll with the punches?


 What is a fun alternative to TV!!??

Thursday, February 21, 2013

In the Trenches

    Most days I feel like I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Just trying to survive. A lot of people say the newborn stage is the hardest, but as we quickly approach the "terrible twos" I find this statement to be false. I would take losing some sleep any day over constantly repeating myself, saying crazy phrases like "don't bite the furniture," and dealing with toddler tantrums! So when you mix it all together, the loss of sleep and chasing a crazy 20 month old, you can see how I am slowly losing my mind. And I only have two babies!! I have so much respect for my friends who have 3 or 4 or 5 kiddos to care for. I applaud you ladies for taking on this challenge and making it look easy.

    Lately I have compared this struggle of learning to handle multiple children to a war. I feel like I am constantly in the trenches duking it out. I struggle just to get it all done. Not once have I been able to shower and cook dinner in the same day. There just isn't enough time to do it all, so something has to give (lately it has been cooking dinner. I have a very patient husband). 

Though in the trenches God has used this time teach me so much about himself. In the past couple of months, He has constantly brought this verse to mind,

" Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." 
2 Corinthians 3:5

Praise the Lord I find my strength in Him! I can't do this on my own, and I can rest knowing that not by my strength but His prefect power I will survive this battle. I can make it through the sleepless nights and the crazy fits my son likes to throw. Hallelujah I have risen Savior to run to while I am in the trenches.

As I hurry to finish writing (mainly because Payton is screaming and Knox desperately needs a diaper change... oh motherhood!), I leave you with the thought that if you struggle too, you are not alone my friend.
Also here is some of my witty humor (Can you smell the sarcasm?)

You may be in the trenches if...

1. You may be in the trenches if you view going to the bathroom by yourself a vacation.

2. You may be in the trenches if you've ever wished for sickness just so you'd finally get a chance to stay in bed all day long.  (just me ?)

3. You may be in the trenches if you've accidentally put the dog food in your child's snack bowl, and giving the dog his snack.

4. You may be in the trenches if you say, "Don't touch" every 5 minutes.

5. And last, you may be in the trenches if you legitimately forgot when the last time you actually showered was.(Ps. When I finally remembered it had been four days!! You can imagine the excitement my husband had when I finally took one.)









Thursday, February 14, 2013

A New Name. A New Beginning.

Here we are a month and a half into 2013, and I am now making my resoultions. Obviously one of them is to start back my blog. I make no promises to constantly keep up with it, but I will do my best.

A lot has changed since I last updated. Knox was 10 months, and I just found out I was pregnant with our sweet little lady, Payton. Fast forward a year later and now I am mother of two and slowly losing my mind. Hence the name change. I was reading the other day, and came across the phrase that perfectly describes my life right now, "Welcome to My Circus." Life is crazy, hectic, filled with struggles and mess ups, but I would't change a thing. 

I hope you stick around and take this journey with me. I know this is a short post, but more are coming to encourage, provide comic relief, and to reassure you that things can always be worse. I will leave you some pictures of my "circus". 


My kitchen is disaster! 


Living room a mess, laundry that needs to be put away


Did a tornado hit our house? Yes and his name is Knox!


But it is sweet little faces that make it all worth it!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

10 Months

      I feel like every month I make a comment about how fast time is going, but it REALLY is flying by. I keep telling myself that in two short months Knox will turn one!!!! I can't even begin to process that. I tear up every time I think about. It makes me sad because he isn't my little newborn anymore. I seriously started crying at a friends wedding during the mother-son dance. I kept thinking how before we know it that will be us! Yes, I am pathetic!

    I truly am excited for things to come. I can't wait until he learns to walk... well, maybe I can wait because I know he will be into EVERYTHING! I love to watch him grow and learn. He will do something and then clap for himself. He has such a personality. He smiles at everyone. When he figures out what makes people laugh he does it over and over and over!
 
    I could go on and on but I won't. Here are somethings that happened this month...



He will eat ANYTHING! No joke! So far I have found nothing this boy won't eat. Textures will still take him by surprise but that doesn't stop him.


Tyler was so excited when he bought this! Even though Knox won't really be able to play with this for a few years Tyler just had show him right away. Knox was good at handing Tyler the cars after the flew down the track.




Knox went to his first little league baseball game. My soon to be nephew had his first game of the season, and we decided it was the perfect time for Knox to catch his first ball game. As you can see it was super sunny and hot. It was also the first time Knox really got a chance to crawl around in the grass. He isn't a fan. Textures really bother him and it takes him some time to get used to things.

       Overall it has been a good month. Well, Knox did get hand, foot, and mouth that was such a pain to deal with. Really sad to watch. Other than that it was a great month. I just love him so.




Monday, March 12, 2012

Little Man is Growing Up - 9 months!


         Obviously, I am awful at keeping up with this blog, but it is my new goal to update more often. The last time I posted about Knox he was 3 months! WOW! 6 months have flown by and I have loved every second of watching him grow. Here are some new accomplishments...


A few weeks ago he started pulling up!! He started crawling long enough to crawl over to the couch and pull up! 


At 5 months we started eating solids. YUM! I tried at first to make his baby food, but he loved the jar stuff better. When he tries something new the texture always freak him out! Now that he is used to the texture I am able go back to making his food. I am using Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron as a guide. LOVE IT! There hasn't been a food he doesn't like!

At 6 months we took him to the beach for the first time ( Hilton Head)! It was also the first time just the three if us took a trip together. We had one amazing day and the 3 were miserable! All three of us were super sick. Thankfully were at a condo and not in a single hotel room. He LOVES the water! I am looking forward to summer so we can spend all of our time at the pool.
 One thing I was finally glad to put together was his playroom! My father-in-law is amazing at making furniture, and made the shelf you see here for me for Christmas.We finally got gates to cage in this little monkey, and boy does he love to play! He never sits still  unless he is sleeping.


          In a nutshell, Knox loves to be outside, always takes his socks and pants off, loves throw all his toys over the railing, only fusses if he is tired or hungry, loves to play with other kids, LOVES his puppy ( even though she could care less about him), constantly screams at the top of his lungs for fun, enjoys wagon rides, and you could push him in a swing for hours! 
        I love being his mom and feel truly blessed that God gave me this little boy to take care of. I LOVE YOU KNOX TIMOTHY RECKER!



Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Running from God

      I started to type that a year ago I started running from God, but if I am really honest with myself it happened long before this. I have put on a show for so long that I can scarcely remember last time my relationship with the Father wasn't half hearted on my part. Yes, a year ago a series of events caused me to question everything I believe in, but I don't think I realized that long before this I tried to put up a wall between myself and God. If you have a relationship with the Lord you know that this isn't really possible. When he calls, you answer! Only when the Lord was whispering my name, I would do my very best to ignore it. The times when I was truly confronted with dealing with my relationship I gave God a long list of excuses of why I couldn't to submit to His beckoning. I was too angry, too bitter, I loved my sin too much, it felt half-hearted, and this list goes on.

      About a week ago the Lord really started working on me and He wouldn't let me look away. I started being honest with Him, heck I started being honest with myself! Every time before this whenever I knew I needed to "get right" with God I would make a mental check list that the following day I would start by having a quiet time, not read any more romance novels (which may I add is my guilty pleasure, not super trashy ones but sweet "historical" ones),  start listening to the 104.7 the fish (no joke), and stop listening to the Bert show! Works! Works! Works! But God cared for none of this!

     It wasn't until tonight that God finally tore down the "the wall" and rocked my world with a few simple truths. I was in a rut with our relationship. I knew things needed to change but I had no idea how to go about this. This time when God called I felt that I had too many things to work through in my heart, I didn't know where to begin... ME! ME! ME!! I always came to God asking Him to fix me before I could be obedient to His commands. Tonight God finally whispered in my ear, " Beloved, I didn't save you for you. I saved you for me and my glory! Stop worrying about you and focus on me." Ouch! That one stung.

     Yes, I have heard this before, but this truth finally sunk into tonight! Praise God it did! I feel like I have finally broke a cycle. So many Christians want to make it about themselves. In reality it doesn't have much to do with me, and everything to do with a merciful Savior who called me. God didn't save us so we could be our best self! He saved us for for His mighty work and simply because He loves us.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:3-7

   I share all of this in hopes that if anyone is out there fixating on their own sin and ignoring the much larger call God has placed on their lives, they too would wake up! I am thankful for my Saviors love and mercy he has bestowed upon me!

   By the way, I wrote all of this in my Georgia snuggie. I am pretty sure that made God smile!
  
    

Friday, September 9, 2011

Knox Timothy

      Today Knox is three months! I know should be filling everyone in on what he has been doing over these past couple of months, and I will, but first I wanted to share with everyone his birth story. You can't start a story in the middle, you must first start at the very beginning. This story is one I hold closest to my heart. So here you are, my pregnancy and his birth story all rolled into one.
  
     It has been almost a year since I found out I was pregnant. I will never forget that day as long as I live. Before I go into detail about it, I must mention that earlier that I year I had a miscarriage. It was a beautifully, tragic experience but it made this particular day all the more special. Some women have signs that they are pregnant and others don't. Me, I just knew! I was only a few days late and there were no other symptoms but I just knew. I couldn't wait any longer to take a test, so while out grocery shopping for the people I nannied I picked up a test. As I was waiting for the results I got down on my knees and asked God to give me peace no matter what that stick said. Finally I the nerve to look at it. I saw "PREGNANT" staring back at me! I broke down and cried! I felt so honored that God would choose me to carry a child. Immediately I sent Tyler a picture of the results and called everyone. I was too excited to wait!

     It was your typical pregnancy, I was sick 24/7 from week 6 all the way through week 17! You can imagine my disappointment when the holidays came around and I was too sick to enjoy all those yummy foods. (You better believe I will be making up for it this year!) The only food that did not make me want to throw up all over the place was McDonalds vanilla ice cream. I didn't care that it was 9am and I was asking for ice cream, I NEEDED it. Moving into the second trimester things got back to normal and I was able to really enjoy being pregnant. We suprised everyone by finding out the sex of the baby early and gave it as a Christmas gift. We all wanted a boy so bad and were extremely blessed to have our prayers answered. As the third trimester rolled around I began to get rather large and knew Knox was not going to be a small baby. I first felt him move round week 19 and from that day he has never stopped wiggling. I felt him every single day kicking my insides, and as we got closer to the due date and the punches got stronger I was ready to get him out of me!

   I thought, debated, prayed, and stressed over who I should use to deliver Knox! I had been seeing a doctor but was unsure if I wanted to use him or a midwife. Every time I came to him with questions or specific instructions on how I wanted my delivery to go he had all the right answers.  I did not want to be induced unless there was a serious issue. I wanted to wait until Knox was ready to enter the world. So when my due date came and went I started to worry. My doctor was very patient and respected my wishes, but I had some family members who thought I should be induced because there were certain dates that didn't work for them. As if I didn't want to meet my son or finally know what it was like to tie my shoes again, I was getting the unnessicary pressure from others. I tried every option you could think of to try and induce labor. I did a lot of research and finally decided to try acupuncture induction. It was a much less invasive way to induce labor, than going to the hospital and doing it. I had an appointment scheduled for Wednesday evening on the 8th of June! After I made that appointment on Tuesday evening I could finally relax! Tyler and I had a fun, relaxing evening at home. We played mario kart and told silly jokes. I also had a doctor appointment scheduled for the morning of the 8th. I went to bed peacefully knowing I would soon meet this person growing inside my belly. Only I didn't realize how soon!

    I woke up at 1:30am on June the 8th in labor! At first I thought I was dreaming about having contractions, but then I started really feeling them. Holy cow! They were so strong and unlike anything I had felt before. I quietly crept into our living. I wanted to be sure this was it because we had false alarms before. And the contractions just kept coming. I was reading a really good book and it distracted me for awhile until I couldn't ignore it anymore, this was the real thing. I went back into our room, woke up Tyler, and started getting ready for the hospital.

     We got there and I was only dialated 2 cm. Sadly I had REALLY high blood pressure, so they ushered me into a room and broke my water (looking back, I wouldn't have them do that). My original plan was to go all natural, and by letting them break my water it caused the contractions to come super quick and really intense. I was progressing really nice on my own, but after the first 12 hours of labor I had to tap out!. Tyler and our doula, Cindy, did such an amazing job comforting me and doing whatever I needed them to do. I was able to lean on Tyler, literally and figuratively, for those amazing 12 hours. Yes, the labor was painful, but worse than that I was SO tired. Only have gotten 3 hours of sleep I wanted rest but I couldn't. So, I got an epidural, and honestly I don't regret it. It allowed me the rest I needed to push for 2 1/2 hours!

    So here we are, the grand finale of our story. I wanted to push for as little time as possible so I let my epidural wear off. I started pushing at 11:45pm and to my suprise we learned Knox was turned face up! Not only that but all those contractions from earlier that day didn't push him down the birth canal at all! I had to start from square one. Finally after those exausting 2 1/2 hours Knox Timothy entered into the world. As soon as he was out, I shouted, " I did it! I really did it!" The moment they placed him in my arms was more than words can say. It was unbelievable.

    From that day forward our lives have never been the same in the best way possible. I have loved every moment with our son. He is really the best baby any mom could ask for. He rarely fusses and always smiles. Knox Timothy Recker, I love you more than books, salty foods, or Harry Potter. HA!