It's been a big week

In the last seven days Davis has gotten two teeth (his bottom ones!) AND he started doing the traditional crawl!  See, it has been a big week.  He's also started pulling up to the kneeling position.  It is seriously amazing how quickly things change and how my baby is turning into a toddler.  And I have to admit that I am loving watching him and all this newness.  I just love that kid!!

And I can't forget to mention that Garrison has learned how to pee standing up.  We were playing outside yesterday in the baby pool and he had to go so he instead of running inside all wet, I suggested he pee on a tree.  So now he's found a tree in the backyard that he has peed on three times.  He's so excited about this new trick!  I know, not really something normally mentioned on other mommy blogs, but I still wanted to document this first!  Haha...I'm such a mom of boys  :)

Silly boys

Garrison decided that he wanted to wear his dragon costume today AND he thought Davis should wear his.  This just cracked me up!  Here's a little video of my dragons playing with bubbles...

9 months and other happenings

Davis is 9 months old!  Already!  It's just amazing that my little baby is 9 months old.  He is getting more independent and moving around on his own quite a bit.  He still isn't doing the "traditional" crawl, but his little worm movements get him where he wants to go!  And he LOVES to jump.  When he's on my hip he does this cute little jumping thing and moves his arms up and down like he's trying to fly.  He get's so excited doing it too...just precious!  And so funny!  Davis is still quite laid back, but he's definitely asserting himself more with Garrison (and us).  And to tell you the truth, I'm glad he's got some opinions!

So he still has NO teeth.  Yep, none!  He is SO my baby because I was around a year old when I first got mine.  And speaking of being my baby...he has my ears too.  And by that I mean that he is SUPER prone to ear infections.  In the last 5 months he's been on 7 different antibiotics.  It's been horrible.  So it was suggested by our pediatrician to see an ENT to discuss tubes.  Well the ENT thought he'd be a great candidate for them.  But, I wanted to hold off a bit to see how he did not being in a daycare environment and not getting sick as much.  Well, 2 weeks into staying at home, WITHOUT even being sick, he got another ear infection.  So we scheduled the surgery.  Last Tuesday my sweet baby had his first surgery.  Anesthesia and everything!   He did great, just out of it most of the day.  And he's already sleeping better.  Thank GOD because I'm TIRED!  Seriously though, I got 2 full nights of sleep this week and it was AMAZING.

Davis is sitting up quite sturdy these days as well so we are now able to bathe the boys at the same time.  I love that they can splash around and play together in the bathtub.  Seriously cute.  Of course they also fight.  Already!  Garrison wants EVERYTHING that Davis has his hands on.  We are really working on this whole sharing concept...very frustrating at times!

All in all Davis is just a sweet, sweet boy that has added the perfect mix to our family.  We love him so much and look forward to so many more changes in the coming months.

Here are his 9 month stats:
*Weight: 19 lb 7 oz (34%)
*Height: 28" (45%)
*Head:  17.52" (29%)

Garrison has some new developments as well.  He's almost fully potty trained... HALLELUJAH!   It's been a slow and steady process and nothing that we have really forced.  He's wearing big boy underwear as I type this and he's quite proud of himself.  So are we!!  

Our big boy also LOVES to mow or do anything yard work related.  It is seriously his favorite thing to mow and use the weed eater with Daddy.  That is some serious bonding time!!  (Of course Bryan is super careful with G out there.)

Speaking of Garrison's favorite things, we ask him every evening what his favorite thing about that day was.  I love hearing from his perspective what he enjoyed the most.  Sometimes he surprises us and says the sweetest things (my favorite thing was when you came home to be with us!).  He is such a sweet and very active, fiesty toddler.  Love him!

Last week my mom and I took the boys to the Japanese Gardens to take Davis' 9 months pics with my friend Jane.  She did an amazing job!!  Here is her blog post with some of the shots...

http://www.janemarieblog.com/2012/02/what-a-guy-houston-portrait-photographer-for-babies-kids-families/

Videos!

I've been so bad about sharing videos...so here's a few!

Bye Bye Daycare

As the title implies, the boys are no longer going to daycare.  I've been struggling with them being at school and getting sick so often.  We were seriously in the doctor's office almost every other week.  Seriously!  It was just getting crazy!

And not to mention the fact that they are both still so young...especially Davis.  I just really wanted to find another solution that would allow them to have a more relaxed day at home.  And voila!  The answer fell into our lap.  Our sweet next door neighbor is a stay at home mom with kids that are now all in elementary school.  When I mentioned that I was looking for someone to watch the boys she said she'd do it!  I couldn't believe it!

She started watching the boys yesterday and so far so good!  The boys seem very happy and so are we!

So true...

I read this great article after a particularly rough evening with the kids.  You know the kind of night where your husband is working late, your toddler won't take a bath - instead, he's jumping out of the tub at every chance and running around the house screaming.  The shrieks wake up the baby, who I'm not actually sure ever went to sleep in the first place.  So then I have these two cranky kids AWAKE at 8 PM and I'm SO over it.  Well I finally get them both to sleep, sit down to relax with my laptop and see this article that made feel so normal.  Parenting is hard and it's easy (at least for me) to feel like I'm not doing it "right" or not as good as other moms.  Apparently I'm not alone :)

Don't Carpe Diem

By Glennon Melton

Every time I'm out with my kids -- this seems to happen:

An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, "Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast."

Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy everysecond, etc, etc, etc.

I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn't work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong.

I think parenting young children (and old ones, I've heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they've heard there's magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it's hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.

And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers -- "ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T!" TRUST US!! IT'LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!" -- those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.

Now. I'm not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: "Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast."
At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn't find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, "Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you."

That's not exactly what I wanted to say, though.

There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, "No. but I love having written." What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't mean you love having parented?"

I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.

Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I'm being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times -- G, if you can't handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?
That one always stings, and I don't think it's quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn't add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right...in her own way...and she happens to be honest.

Craig is a software salesman. It's a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don't ever feel the need to suggest that he's not doing it right, or that he's negative for noticing that it's hard, or that maybe he shouldn't even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he's ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: "This career stuff...it goes by so fast...ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!"
My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

"It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime." And hopefully, every once in a while, I'll add -- "Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up -- I'll have them bring your groceries out."
Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn't work for me. I can't even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here's what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there's Kairos time. Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I'm doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can't hear her because all I can think is -- This is the first time I've really seen Tish all day, and myGod -- she is so beautiful. Kairos.

Like when I'm stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I'm haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I'm transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I'll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world's mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.

Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.

Good enough for me.

Baby on the go!

Well Davis is starting to move and it's so exciting!  He hasn't mastered the crawling thing BUT his little "worm like" moves really get him places.  See him in action...

It's only a matter of time before he's chasing after his brother!