Life Ain't Always Beautiful

I think I am going to start a blog series documenting the not so pretty stuff each week. I want to remember the good and the bad. One day my daughter or daughter-in-law is going to be struggling through motherhood and wonder how I made it. I often think the same with my mom and mother-in-law. I want to look back and share that it wasn't all sunshine, roses, and smiles.  It is sometimes total chaos, a little bit of chaos, or smooth sailing. But the good thing is we survive and turn out okay (not perfect, but okay).


So this week I already shared a lot of them in the first day of school and 'our week' post but here are a few more from just this morning.

• Casen has become obsessed lately with locking doors- our bedroom door, the door between the house and the garage, and car doors. This has led to Kyle putting a house key on my car key ring so that I don't find myself locked out one day. And this has led to me walking to Casen's car door and it being locked several times this way. Insert frustration, sweat, me saying 'CASEN open the door right NOW!' and not as nice words in my head...this morning was one of those times.
• Chloe pooped this morning twice within 20 minutes....There is no room in mommy's morning routing for 2! extra diaper changes
• Yesterday I cleaned out Cooper's backpack and pulled out his buzz bag (a gift bag the teacher gave him to fill with 5 things that describe/represent him). He had taken it to school Thursday and I assumed he was done with it so I took it out to ask him to put the stuff away. Kyle walked over to the bag and in an attempt to help put the stuff away. I actually said 'no let him do it' and he said 'yeah, like that will happen' and kept going. Well #1 we are bad about doing stuff for the kids that they should do 'because its easier' and we need to stop doing that. #2 if we had made Cooper do it he would have said 'no I need to take that back to school tomorrow because we aren't done with it'.  Instead this morning at 6:33 (I know the time because I texted Kyle) Cooper said 'where is my buzz bag? I need to take it back today'  insert cuss words said in my head, a text to Kyle and telling Cooper to go find all of the stuff again. He didn't want to do it and I couldn't help him because I didn't know what was in the bag. Kyle had helped him gather the stuff Wednesday night. I handed Cooper my phone and said 'call daddy and ask where he put it.' So yeah...lesson learned...maybe.
• Thursday we did good and got to daycare at 6:48....well before the bus. Today we didn't get there until 7:02 so we just sat in the parking lot and I got them directly on the bus instead of messing with going into daycare first. Cooper said 'let's skidaddle' and I laughed out loud. He says some of the funniest things.

Life ain't always beautiful...sometimes it's just plain hard... (are you singing Gary Allan in your head?)

Our week

Tuesday night I took this picture of Chloe. She has decided she doesn't want to go to sleep at 7/7:30 anymore. She is more of 8:00 these days. And I keep telling myself that a few months ago I was wishing I had more time with her. But this week it was TOUGH!

The routine before was to soak her up until 7ish and nurse her then bed. Then I would have ~45 of one on one time with the boys to read, play games, or whatever and some chores. Then they were in bed at 8ish and I did whatever was left of laundry, dishes, bottle prep, shower, etc.

Well now I am trying to bond with them while also entertaining her and playing. Then after they are in bed I should have the same amount of time but I just don't. The house is a wreck, lunches have to be packed, folders checked, etc.

On Wednesday I was going to document 'a day in the life' post to capture life but I kept forgetting. I did okay in the morning...during the day is boring...and then completely forgot that evening.

At 5:20 I was done nursing Chloe and getting out of bed.

Pumping time

Sweet smiley girl at 6:19. I told you she wakes with a smile!

6:20 waking up the boys

6:28 brushing teeth, hair, allergy meds, and vitamins.

I got to daycare right at 7:03 for the bus to pickup at 7:14...but instead at 7:04 it was rolling into the parking lot as the kids were straggling out of the car. The boys ran for the bus but Casen didn't grab his backpack or lunchbox. So I was literally running to the bus as well (Chloe was still in her car seat lol). The bus times were not supposed to change this year but surprise surprise they did. 10 minutes earlier.

And I hate the traffic now that school is back in session :(

During one of my pumping sessions I noticed that both of the boys' teachers shared some pictures from the first day of school.

It is obvious they are both into hand gesture/gang signs

Cooper is adjusting well to 3rd grade and told me that he eats lunch with his BFF Vincent every day.

At 6:28 I was trying to do reading with Casen and saw this little miss trying to pull up on her bouncer and bumbo! Slow down girl! We are in no rush for you to grow up. In fact Cooper said 'I wish she could stay like this forever' Me too buddy, me too.

It was at this time that I noticed Casen was missing another tooth and he said 'yeah it fell out last night in my bed'...I have not found that 4th missing tooth yet. Eww!

Casen also did a great job reading his first kinder reader. I am so proud of this boy!

Thursday morning

Friday

Chloe looked so cute with her little bow and jeggings this morning.

Another picture from Casen's teacher this week

Last night I was looking at Chloe's TCU clothes and realized we don't have any purple bows the right color. Why is it so hard to find 'TCU purple?'  In the picture below is a pair of 'TCU purple' bloomers and all of the purple bows we have.   I remember getting ready for freshmen year of college and looking for purple stuff for my dorm room and none of it was the right shade. Now I am having the same problem with bows.

I have been wanting some of these paper mate flair pens for my planner for 2 months. I kept waiting for them to be an Amazon lightning deal like I saw last spring but no luck. I finally bought them when they were $2 off. I got them yesterday and was so excited to use them today.

4 Things

Cooper

1. My sweet Cooper. He is currently my easy child. He is so sweet with Chloe and tells her she is cute and pretty multiple times of day.  He is the fun big brother to Casen. He is the leader and full of creative ideas with legos, nerf wars, and army guys. Casen loves playing with Cooper but Casen can get too rough or wild. It isn't always easy for Cooper but he handles it well most of the time. Cooper also loves being the leader aka boss
2. His love language is words of affirmation and he is constantly affirming Chloe and I. Since I too am words of affirmation it is the best.
3. He took a season off of sports. He tried jit-jitsu for 2 months and despite lots of praise from his coach of great potential he stopped. We made a list of sports and activities to choose from this week and he chose tennis. He loves playing pickle ball with Mimi and Grandpa so this will be fun to try.
4. Cooper is short for his age by ~6 inches but he has a lot of friends and is a good kid.

Casen

1. Casen started kindergarten. His teacher is Mrs. McDonald but he calls her Ms. Donalds. He was excited to start school and go to PE. He was nervous about the cafeteria.
2. He is going through some behavior issues right now. Saying inappropriate words, talks back, emotional, says I don't love you. I say this to look back and remember that it wasn't all sunshine and roses.
3. Casen is my reminder that I can't control everything. He is strong-willed, stubborn and defiant. And though often times that is challenging as a parent, I know he will be a strong, confident adult. We just have to get him there :)
4. Casen too is short for his age, but he is a tough kid that can hold his own. He is clumsy but tough and just hops up and keeps going. If he says he is sick or hurt we know it is legit because he is too busy loving life to slow down.

Chloe

1. Chloe is almost crawling and each day we are trying to see if she has it figured out.
2. She is going through a sleep regression now which is common around this age especially when going through big developmental milestones.
3. She LOVES her daddy. This is a big deal because she was very hard on her daddy until about a month ago. Since I returned to work they have more time together and she would just cry. But now she think he hung the moon. She loves her mommy and might pick me first but it is a pretty tough choice for her. He loves his Chlo Chlo too :)
4. This weekend Chloe and I are going on our first mother/daughter trip. This might be a fun tradition....but then again she shouldn't get special treatment just because she is a girl so it probably won't be.

First day of school

Tuesday was the first day of school. Cooper is in 3rd grade and Casen in kinder.

Both boys were excited but nervous. And Cooper is at the point where he would prefer to play with friends at day-care than go to school.

The morning is always chaotic trying to get everyone looking decent, fed, pictures taken, and out the door. And this year was no different.

I let Casen choose dinner the night before school and he chose Bacon Penne Pasta which is also one of Cooper's favorite so that was great. Before bed we said prayers and Casen prayed to 'have a good day and be calm' (I said that same prayer a lot!!!). He then said 'thank you mommy for letting me pick bacon pasta for dinner.' Sweet little guy.

It is hot as Hades in August in Texas so we were all sweating and irritable by the end of pictures. And that is why Chloe didn't get to be in any.

We dropped Cooper off first and just said bye at the door. Then we took Casen to his room and helped him get settled. He had no problem saying bye. But I was a mess. I was crying and couldn't help it. As I said bye he said 'can we get a treat after school?...can we do water balloons tonight?' I was trying so hard not to blubber that I just kept saying yes. I would have probably said yes to anything.

As I walked out of his classroom I saw a few mom friends and they were like 'awww it's okay'

I was walking out sweating like crazy, tears rolling down my face, and realized that I still had the bag of teacher gifts that we didn't hand out...too late I would send them on day two.

Just in case you thought I had it all together, seriously we were a mess- I snapped at Kyle for not helping me and us running late, we didn't have time to drop Chloe off first, Chloe didn't get to be in pictures, we were sweating like crazy, I forgot to pack Cooper a snack, we were almost tardy and we forgot the teacher gifts. #crazyclines

Kyle headed to work and I dropped Chloe off. Then I went back home and regrouped for about 10 minutes before heading to work. Partly because I didn't want teacher gifts to melt in the car all day and I just needed a few minutes.

This was Chloe just chillin among the chaos in the morning. She is wearing a sleeper both of her brothers wore but I couldn't find a single picture of either of them :(

But the boy both had great days!

Casen originally wanted to take his lunch but at the last minute decided to buy. He said he had a hotdog, juice, and fruit. He then said he wanted to take his lunch on day 2.

Cooper said his day was awesome and his teachers are 'sooo nice.'

I picked them up and we headed to 7-11 for slurpees and candy. And we also did the water balloon fight after dinner.

Weekend recap

Saturday morning we slept in a little and then Chloe played in her room while I pumped next to her.

She took a cat-nap while we got everyone ready.

All dressed and ready to head to Mimi and Grandpa's. I failed and didn't take a single picture while we were there, but we had a nice visit.

(those thighs are the best!)

Chloe is getting so close to crawling

Between Friday and Saturday I got all but one thing checked off this list.

Chloe loves her daddy and wouldn't leave him alone. I came back in our room to find this. She ended up snuggling next to him and falling asleep.

Then at 4 I loaded up the kids to head to Ennis for the KJZT celebration. I asked Cooper to get a picture of Chloe with her shoes on and this is what I got.

She looks like such a big girl :(

First stop was to drop off desserts for the dinner. Then drop off food for the food pantry that Casen and I purchased the day before. Cooper and Chloe were asleep so we just hopped out and took a quick pic and drop off.

Then we went to evening mass before heading to the hall for dinner, games, a cake walk, bingo, and more. I enjoyed introducing Chloe to friends in Ennis. And I always love being at the KJT hall where Kyle and I had our wedding reception.

The boys ran around and played with their cousins having a great time.

I just love my boys so much.

About to do the cake walk with Casen. On the second round we each one a cake!

Someone needed a diaper change break :) And I finally got a picture of her in her pretty dress.

The boys played hard all evening. At about 8:30 I asked if they were ready to go and they said no. We ended up leaving about 10:15 and this is what I got home to...

On the way home Cooper was getting tired and said 'When we get home if I am asleep will you carry me in and take off my clothes...but not my underwear.'  Yes, bud. He is 8 and heavy but you better believe I carried that sweet boy in.  

Sunday morning was nice and lazy since we had been to church the evening before.

Chloe took a short nap and woke up. I held her and she ended up sleeping another hour. I was hungry and needed to pee but there was no way I was putting her down.

Someone was playing with mommy's phone...

That afternoon we met my parents at the boys' school for our tradition of praying for the school, teachers, staff, and students.

Melisa and her family were there because my parents had been to the girls' school first.

I told my parents that this year I also wanted to pray at day-care since they take care of Chloe as well as the boys in before/after school care.

Afterwards we all went to Tio Tony's for a wild and crazy dinner.

Such a fun weekend before school starts.