Wife, Then Mama

So I feel a little guilty.  Miss Baby gets her own blog posts all the time, but Little Guy never does.  But Little Guy just doesn't do as many amusing things.  And when he does, they are more "you had to be there" moments.  Like today, when he was intentionally falling down every step he took.  Funny, yes, but not a very good blog post. Anyways, back to "business".  My mom and I moved Miss Baby's stuff downstairs, so she and Hadlee can share the biggest bedroom.  She is getting old enough that she should be able to color and play with her "big girl" stuff, but she can't do that when she shares a room with Little Guy because he will either ruin things or eat them.  So now she is in a twin bed, which makes her look SOOOO tiny. She has been being a horrible brat about going to sleep, and I think her favorite thing to say right now is: "I stay awake.  Tonight I got her to go to sleep without a tantrum, but only after warning her that ...

Weird "side-effect" from cleaning my house:  The kids are playing REALLY well together. I have NO idea why they are playing better.  I don't know if its that a messy house subconsciously makes people stressed or if its because I have been actually busy, instead of "busy" on my phone or computer so they don't feel ignored, they just realize mom is doing her work. Or if its completely unrelated and just happened to happen at the same time.  But I am broken in the head, and the fact that they can all play (mostly) nicely together for hours at a time with no intervention makes me a little sad.  Its like I am unnecessary and although its great for them to be independent and bodes very well for their futures, selfishly it makes me a little bit hurt.    That is probably how people become "helicopter parents".  They realize that if they are constantly with their kids, the kids will "need" them to be able to function and so they ar...

As of today, I have been a mother for 1 year!  Unlike most people that become mothers, my baby is now 2.5, and probably won't live with me forever.  Despite the eventual sadness of losing Miss Baby, I would not trade anything in the world for getting to have her in my life, even if it is only temporary.  The suffering of years of infertility were totally worth it to have her be a part of my family.  The absolute unfairness of the fact that she has lived with us for her entire memory and we are her family but she will still probably leave us is terrible.  But (although I am taking it out of context) "it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all".  She is such a fun little girl.  She is sweet and nurturing, and although she does have a stubborn streak she is really learning to be polite and obedient.  She loves to help with the baby and is always wrapping up her baby dolls and feeding them, and changing their diapers....

Confession: I am a horrible housewife.  My poor husband often comes home to a VERY messy house for many, many days in a row.  The only time he doesn't is usually if I had someone come over that day, and even then, the cleaning only extends to the main living area. In fact, until this last week, if you came to my house and it resembled clean, feel very special, because I did it just for you! Last Wednesday I found an app on my phone called Motivated Moms.  I used the demo version for a day, loved it and I actually PAID for the app!  (In interest of full disclosure, I didn't actually use "real" money, I have the Google Rewards App and I earn money for the app store by doing quick surveys).  Its basically a glorified to-do list.  But the genius is that you don't have to think at all!  It has almost all the chores that need to be done around the house in a daily list.  It breaks down big jobs like cleaning the fridge into small jobs, like clea...