Holla Hump Day

This week's shout outs go to...

...everyone involved with me getting a new ride. To name a few, Sonja for watching our kids, Skip for being an expert and checking it over, and the lady they call "V" at Carmax. I truly never thought "it takes a village" could apply to buying a car as it does everything else in my life.

...my neighbor Christy for hooking me up with a cheaper and better deal with Orkin than my pest control company was offering. Last summer when Christy would tell me that "the guy" was coming to spray her yard for mosquitos I just thought it was something you might do instead of putting bug spray on your kids. Or in addition to. I didn't know. After going outside for two nights last week and getting eaten alive I remembered how much I hate living like an itchy mess. I also really hate bug spray. However, what I hate the very most is watching my kids get bit even when they have bug spray on. Sometimes you have to pay for things that can make you happy. That's a tough lesson to learn when you don't want to pay for such things. But, we spent the entire afternoon and evening on our typically mosquito infested deck and received not one bite. That, my friends, is happiness bought. It's the little things.

...my other neighbor Tres (Christy's husband) for making it possible for Lila to have fun at a friend's birthday party last weekend. The party was at Leapin' Lizards, and Lila is pretty scarred from a past experience at Monkey Joe's. I can't remember if I blogged about it. I would sort of be shocked if I didn't. At any rate, the gist of the story is that we were at Monkey Joe's, the power went out, the jumpies collapsed...with kids in them...who were screaming. It was AWFUL. Somehow Lila and Carson weren't in them yet. That doesn't matter though. Lila held on to that day and was 100% sure at this birthday party on Saturday that they were going to fall down with her in them. I even went so far as to tell her that things like that only happen at Monkey Joe's. Not my smartest mommy move, but I just wanted her to have a good time. I have no plans of ever going back to Monkey Joe's anyway, so what does it matter? SO, Tres carefully helped Lila through a jumpy about thirty times. He's just a big kid at heart anyway, so I know it was fun for him. I honestly would have done it myself, but he was so excited to have a reason to be one of the kids. By the end of the party she was begging to stay and having a blast!

Happy Hump Day!

Growing up

When I was 24 my dad took me to buy a new car. Prior to that I had driven two polar opposite vehicles. My first car was a hand me down from my dad. It was a teeny tiny Toyota Carolla that he had driven to and from Lenox Mall while working at Cartier. He was overdue for a "real" car to say the least. I can remember filling that car up in Athens, GA for $6 and driving my friends all over creation in it. The Carolla wasn't pretty, but it was beyond functional. Dad paid for that one completely. For whatever reason he then decided I needed a nice car. So, he leased a Volvo S40 for me. Again, I paid for nothing. I was one of those kids...to some degree. I LOVED that car. It was the definition of pretty, but it wasn't really "mine". When the lease was up dad and I decided it was time. I had a barely paying non-profit job and was living in the upscale Virginia Highlands neighborhood in Atlanta. Dad takes me to buy the car I had picked out all on my own. I was so proud and so excited to not only have picked it out, but to also have the chance to be a grown up and pay for it. I paid for it on my own, insurance and all. I paid for it completely until it was paid for a few years ago. I spent my twenties in that rugged Xterra. I put car seats in it and hated. every. minute. of. it. Not the car, but the car with car seats. Stadium seating in the back seat of an SUV is not conducive to car seats, FYI.

As of today, and rather all of a sudden, I am the proud owner of a 2010 Honda Pilot. While driving to Carmax to make the trade Seth asked me how I felt about it. I didn't expect to feel anything but elated. However, driving there I got a little nostalgic. I drove that Xterra for almost ten years. It had flaws, but I never minded all that much (except for the car seat business). When we got out of it I told Seth I needed a picture. It seems silly, but someday I will show my girls the picture of my first real investment in something. I would hazard to guess that my kids won't be handed a car they don't have to contribute to. Seth wouldn't have that. But, what I can show them is that I bought something big, paid for it all on my own, and appreciated it completely.

I haven't even driven the Pilot beyond getting it from Carmax to my house. Now I appreciate air conditioning that is cold within minutes. I am giddy over getting two car seats in it in less than five minutes. I daydream about my girls watching movies together while we go on road trips this summer. I have VERY distant thoughts of more than two car seats and how that is now an option...should we take that route. I thought I was a grown up when I bought the Xterra. Funny how a person's definition of being a grown up can change so dramatically in ten years.

Here's to the next ten in my new love...which I somehow forgot to take a picture of. Regardless, it's pretty and it's all ours instead of just all mine.

Strawbeeeees

Cheese! I mean, strawbeeeeeeees!!!

I am in the process of creating about eight different posts about some really awesome stuff. There's an overdue update on the girls and their birthdays. I'm working on a few comprehensive lists for random things that I hope you will find helpful. The new Isn't She Lovely feature is also on it's way. Lots of work to do over here.

In the mean time, the day to day stuff is what you get! Last week Sonja and I decided to pull the big kids out of school and take a field trip to pick some strawberries. I have been wanting to do this for a very long time. We went to Washington Farms in Loganville, GA. The strawberries were so easy for the kids to pick, there were a ton of them, and they are delicious!

Sonja has a five year old named Teddy and a three year old named Samantha. Evie and Teddy have the most adorable little relationship. Evie stares at Teddy with the same sense of amazement that she used to have for Lila before she and Lila started bickering over every. last. thing. On the other hand, Lila and Samantha usually play really well together. It has to be said that Samantha won the berry picking award for the day. Evie and Teddy were somewhat bored about ten minutes in. Lila picked for a while, but was very meticulous. Therefore, she needed help filling her bucket towards the end. Samantha may have a future in sustainable agriculture. She was focused and quick. I'm pretty sure she would have done it all day if given the chance.

When each kid had a full bucket we sat down for a snack and then headed home. It was the easiest and most enjoyable outing. When we got home we cleaned the strawberries and slightly gorged ourselves on them. That's the point right?

I highly recommend doing something like this. We plan to go back for blueberries and whatever else we can find to go pick!

Here is a progression of photos that capture the day.

So this is what it's like to have four kids in car seats in a one vehicle. VERY LOUD. 

That little one...she's a sneaky chick. 

I could just eat them up. 

 Look Mom!!!

 Trying to take a picture with both of them looking and smiling is beyond hard. I imagine Evie was either screaming the word "cheese" or telling Lila it was her turn. BTW, turn taking is for the birds. I find myself saying, "just go do something else...you'll be less stressed" instead of "wait your turn". 

Obligatory smile that always ends up being fake. And awkward.

 Ugh, fine. Let's just be done with the picture taking and eat some berries.

Happy Monday lovelies! 

Holla Hump Day

I need to start by saying that this has been a very. long. week. The early morning swim lessons are taking a tole and the whole Burrow family is exhausted. But, there are always people to thank for a job well done.

This week's shout outs go to...

...Lila's teachers. I know what the end of the year brings for a teacher. It's a difficult time of year to say the least. I went to Lila's class on Tuesday to celebrate her birthday with cupcakes. She happens to share a birthday with another child in her class. Therefore, his birthday was celebrated on Monday and her's was celebrated on Tuesday. I also went to her class today for "muffins with Mom". The teachers all have this glassy eyed look like summer is so close yet so far away. I tried to convey that I felt their pain, but I'm sure hearing it from a stay at home mom isn't really giving them much comfort. Bravo to preschool teachers across the country. I'm pretty sure I could never do your job.

...my girls. They have been such rockstars with the swimming lessons. They are so proud and yet so tired on a daily basis. I know the benefits of seeing the lessons through. I also know that it's a long road and a lot of hard work. I am so proud of them for not only being good students, but also for trying to teach the new waterproof baby doll to swim. Now if they could only share the baby doll without the hysterics over having to share her I would feel a lot better. Note to self: buy another waterproof baby doll.

...Seth. It takes a certain kind of man to receive the kinds of text messages my husband has been getting this week. I'm pretty sure he thinks I have gone off the deep end. In my defense, I haven't seen him much, and I am dealing with two sleep deprived children. Regardless, he takes what I text with a grain of salt and knows that I haven't actually locked myself in a bedroom until one or both stop whining. I really haven't. I won't say I haven't considered it. But, I do leave the room and then try to navigate the sleepy girls to the best of my ability. You do what you have to do.

...those of you who contributed to the "Aren't You Lovely" photo op challenges for the past few weeks. This week was the first one where I only got one photo. For now I am going to curb that idea until I can find a better way to bring it to life. Keep being in your own pictures. In fact, I challenge you to get your kids to take your picture. Even if your child is little and only gets your ear or your rear end. Foster that love of having mommy in the photo. You won't regret it.

...anyone else that may have gotten a text from me this week that was clearly an "at the end of her rope" kind of text. I just needed to vent and now I'm good. I appreciate you virtually being at my side even though I may have sounded like I needed to be medicated. That's the beauty of texting, right? You can be passive and crazy and your true friends will know you are just having a bad day. At least I hope they know.

Happy hump day!

New parents, you've been warned.

These days I try really hard to take advantage of the times where I can go somewhere without my kids. That may sound terrible, but it's the truth. With Seth out of town a lot for work this time of year I have to grab hold of the option to do things alone. This includes mundane things like going to the grocery store.

We had a very busy Saturday. By the time six o'clock hit we had no plan for dinner. When that happens we usually feed the girls, get them to bed, and grill out just the two of us. We got a nutritious meal of grilled cheese and fruit going, and I headed to the store like I was going to a party. I was downright giddy to go alone and just walk around the store. I hate grocery shopping, but I have a fierce appreciation for doing it solo. Plus, I was only going for a few things.

I knew that Seth would feed them, give them a bath, and almost have them in bed by the time I got home. I'm not going to lie...I took my time.

Recharged I headed home crossing my fingers that my job for the day was done. I saw a glass of wine and a dinner completely made by Seth in my future. It looked glorious.

I walked in the door and heard the familiar sounds of little girls laughing mixed with Seth trying really hard to get them to listen to him. I headed toward the bedroom half of the house and realized they were in our bedroom and Seth was getting them out of the shower. I think I said something like, "why did they take a shower and not a bath?". Seth responded with something like, "this is bath round two".

This is my gift to you on this Monday after Mother's Day. Just know that Evie is in the phase where she sometimes doesn't appreciate being video taped or photographed if it seems to interrupt her story. Also know that I take a slight amount of pleasure in the fact that this happened while I was enjoying being gone for an hour...okay, it may be more than slight.

Anyway, if you have a weak stomach maybe just don't watch. You've been warned.

 

SIDE NOTE:
LILA IS FOUR TODAY. Holy crap. That's all I can think of to say about that. When I process that I now have a two year old and a four year old for real, I will create a post about it.

Photo Op Challenge Take 5

Even with Evie photo bombing it, I'm still in there. Have a great weekend friends. Also, happy birthday to that beautiful chick in the first picture!

A tale of two mommies

So.....my mother in law lives less than two miles from our house. I adore her. I love that she lives so close. We have a mutual level of respect as far as not just randomly showing up at each other's houses unannounced. Sometimes it happens for various reasons, and that's totally fine by me. Honestly, I could care less if she did show up randomly all the time. This is a good thing because tonight she did.

And boy did she get a close up look at what my life really looks like. You know, we moms try really hard to hold it together in public. If you don't believe you have a public mommy self and a private mommy self I'm going to have to call you out. They may not be that different for you, but they are different. OWN IT.

Anyway, my public mommy self has way more patience, a great deal more mental capacity, and typically looks a lot cleaner. The patience part is understandable I think. When you are home a lot with your kids you have to work incredibly hard to remain patient. For me, that hard work is effective 90% of the time. That other 10% involves multiple forms of escape. This is how I have come to learn how not to yell or lose my ability to even look at one of my children. I shut myself in my room or let myself out (usually the back deck), pace/cry/scream/search for jobs outside of my home on the internet, and then I come out (or back in) and start over. But, when you are out and about with the rest of the world maintaining a certain level of patience is almost your only option. Unless you're cool with blowing a gasket in public. In which case, you may not have separate mommy selves, and you have no idea what I'm talking about.

With that in mind, back to tonight's story. The girls took a bath for over an hour. It was one of those bath nights where the water was freezing, and I still had to beg them to get out. Evie got a baby doll for her birthday that you can wash. The baby came with her own tub and soap dispenser. Our house looks like baby dolls walk themselves into it daily and take up residence. We have more doll strollers than Seth has shoes. And yet, I saw the bathtub baby and knew that Evie had to have her. This was more for the sake of the other baby dolls that Evie sneaks into the bathroom and shoves into the sink to "wash" than anything else. It turns out that I could probably remove every other doll and toy from this house but this new one and Evie might not even notice.

The first twenty minutes of the bath I spent in referee mode. Once we established that there was in fact only ONE of these dolls and she was going in time out if they didn't share her, it was quite a lovely time. They both pretended to be Ms. Gina (their swim teacher) and "teach" the baby how to swim. Before I know it I'm so enthralled with how much fun their having. In the background I began to hear Molly freaking out in the kitchen. Seth is out of town so I get a little panicky. I jump up and round the corner so that I can see who is standing at the car port door while also being able to see the girls. I realize it's Seth's mom and quickly let her in. I know. It's a parenting DON'T to walk away from the tub. Our house is tiny. Don't judge.

Grammy and I have a nice chat for a few minutes and somewhere in there I start signaling to the girls that bath time is coming to an end. Lila gets it. She knows what "five more minutes" means. Evie doesn't care how many minutes you throw at her. She's two and your minutes mean nothing. Especially when the most glorious baby doll that ever showed up at our house is involved.

Lila gets out and she and Grammy exit the bathroom. Evie is pulled kicking and screaming from the tub. I hear Grammy say, "she definitely hasn't lost that scream!". Usually I can talk Evie down from totally going awol. When I can't, I put her in her bed. This move is for both of us. I refuse to physically try and wrangle a writhing two year old ever again. Lesson learned there. She refuses to calm down. The bed is neutral territory. I tell her I will pick her up when she can calm down and let me hold her and talk to her. Tonight, as I'm telling her this, she smacks me in the face....twice. She's a hitter. It's nothing new. But, she usually doesn't hit me square in the face and never more than once.

This my friends is where the lines get blurry. This is where I would have maybe reacted differently if Grammy hadn't been here. I probably would have taken a lot longer to gather myself. I did shut the door to her room for a minute and walk to the bathroom. I picked up a few things as she horror movie screamed. Lila starts asking me eight million questions as I try to start over with Evie. I haven't showered today, I am single parenting a lot these days, and I just wanted to go in my room and shut the door. Just for a minute. I went through the routine discussion in regards to hitting with Evie instead. Grammy snuck Lila away to finish getting ready for bed. Within minutes we were back on solid ground.

Lessons learned:

1) I can power through without escaping no matter how tired, gross, and attacked by my own child I feel.

2) My private and public selves mesh together really well. I stood firm with Evie and did my thing in front of Grammy even though I felt very past my level of patience. I got a little loud and a lot tense, but the situation still got resolved without too much of my crazy showing. It's not that I think she's judging me. It's that I want to feel like a good mom no matter who might be standing there.

3) Maybe remove the baby doll from the tub ten minutes before it's time to get out next time. That way, the loss of the doll and bath time won't seem so monumental. Ah, who knows.