On Saturday, we went to our sweet niece's birthday party. Ella's party was lots of fun...what else beats swimming and hot dogs in the summer?! I planned on getting some great pictures of the kids with their cousins and cute pictures in the kid's pool---key word was "planned".
Let me take a quick minute to share with you that Dusty and I are pretty adamant about keeping our kids on their nap and bedtime schedule. We've been that way since day one with Sawyer and continue to be that way with both kids. Yes, we know that there are exceptions and we let it happen every once in a while, but 95% of the time our kids are in their beds at the same time every day and every night. There are times that it's hard because we miss events we would like to enjoy as a family but we know that it would get in the way of nap time or bed time.
Back to Saturday...Ella's party ran into Sawyer's nap time but of course we weren't going to miss our niece's birthday party! We were all good until about 45 minutes into the party....that's when things got difficult. Bless our little girl's heart. She was just too darn tired. First there was a cupcake dilemma and then we made her get out of the pool because it started raining. How dare we...I know ;) Long story short, we made a quick exit to get her home so we could get her in bed ASAP. Needless to say, I didn't get many pictures from the party.
This was the best I could get and I'm pretty sure it's because she had a cookie.
That evening was our community's annual 4th of July Celebration and I was super excited to enjoy it for the first time as a family of four. Our church was running one of the game booths so we wanted to go and help out as well. This was going to be one of our "exceptions" for keeping the kids out past their bedtime. Spoiler alert...totally backfired in.my.face. I can already tell you now that I did not get to take one single picture. Jansen did fine but I don't think Sawyer had really recuperated from her nap being off earlier that day. I was totally having one of those, "I'm such a bad momma" moments. She was so done and I should've known that it wasn't going to work out after having a tough afternoon. I just got caught up in wanting to make those priceless memories with my sweet little family.
Once again we made a quick exit and got home and put the kids to bed. I was left with the feeling of "is it our fault that our 2 year old can't handle being off her nap/bedtime schedule because we made it that way?" I was trying so hard to not be bummed out when I saw my friends posting pictures of themselves with their kids (around the same age as Sawyer or younger) at the 4th of July celebration watching the fireworks. How were their kids not having meltdowns? I was totally having a little pity party thinking that we just weren't going to be able take our kids anywhere for the next 3 years. I forgot to mention that I was having a bad day...one of those that you don't have very often, but when you do, you swear the whole world is against you...yeah I was having one of those. I decided at 8:30 that I just needed to go to bed.
Of course, on Sunday morning when I woke up and was able to think clearly I knew that things are not as bad as they seemed the day before. We are not doomed to being confined within our home for the next three years. We have a 2 year old and an 8 month old...meltdowns are going to happen. Sawyer was having a bad day just like I was and I can blame it on an interrupted sleep routine but it's going to happen regardless. My mom had a quote on her fridge a couple weeks ago and I think as a parent and as a teacher it is something that I forget all too often...
“So often, children are punished for being human. Children are not allowed to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes, yet we adults have them all the time! We think if we don't nip it in the bud, it will escalate and we will lose control. Let go of that unfounded fear and give your child permission to be human. We all have days like that. None of us are perfect, and we must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection than we can attain ourselves." --Rebecca Eanes
That being said, I'll leave you with my Mommy Must-have for the day.
Mom's One Line a Day.
This little book lets me write down all those daily memories that you don't want to forget. No matter how small or how silly they may seem, you know you don't want to forget them. I bought this book for my teammate this year because she would share so many funny stories about her 3 year old son and we were constantly saying that she needed to write them down so she wouldn't forget any of them. I was out at Northpark one day and spotted this book in Papersource. I didn't buy it at that moment but I kept thinking about it over the next month. Finally, I looked it up on Amazon and bought one for Nicki and one for myself. I love being able to write down all those little moments that I don't want to forget. From Jansen's first time to pull up, to Sawyer's saying "I not silly Mommy, I hot mess". I write it all down!!
I love that each day has spaces for 5 years. You get to have 5 years worth of memories in one little book! You can look back on one day and see what happened on that particular day for 5 different years. The book is on sale on Amazon right now for $9.60!! You can find it HERE. They even have a basic One Line A Day Memory book that can be for anyone, not just mom's.
Don't forget to visit Melanie's blog to see her weekend update, Mommy Must-Have AND a brand new blog design!! Her blog is full of fun stuff to start your week off !
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