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!!??

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.)

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!