Bye-Bye Baby

It's the end of an era here in our home. I no longer have a baby in the house.

Grace was born in June of 2005, and was still in diapers and sleeping in a crib when Matt was born just 20 months later. So in some form or another, I've had a baby for the past 4 years. But no more.

Now I have twin bedding for Matt, and I am getting ready to buy a twin bed to go with it. :-) (Yes, I am THAT mom--the one with a 2 1/2-year-old still in a crib. But even though his nickname is Destruct-O-Matt, he hasn't ever climbed out of his crib, so I have been enjoying the fact that I know where he is when it is nap time or bed time. :-) ) I am collecting paint swatches to repaint his room. I am planning to sell the crib at our garage sale next weekend. (Don't worry, we have another crib, so we haven't completely ruled out the possibility of a third child. ;-) ) No longer will we have a nursery in our home. This is especially sad for me because we were trying to get pregnant when we moved into the house, so we chose carpet and paint with a baby's room in mind.

And as if that weren't enough, Matt woke up yesterday and decided he was ready to use the potty! He sat on it 3 or 4 times yesterday, then several times again today--with a moderate amount of success! I even bought him "Thomas the Tank Engine" underwear at Wal-Mart today. Yes, this is GREAT news. I can't imagine being a diaper-free home! But it's also another sign that we are moving out of the baby phase.

And you know what else? I have stopped buying baby wash! At the aforementioned Wal-Mart trip, I bought plain old Suave shampoo, conditioner, and body wash for my kids. No longer will they come out of the tub with that Johnson's scent. (Of course, now they'll smell like strawberries--that's not too shabby either.)

I miss having a baby. I miss snuggling (neither of my kids are snugglers) and feeding them cereal and the little baby rompers and baby giggles and teeny toes.

But you know what? I love having a toddler and a preschooler. I love watching my kids really play together. I am thoroughly enjoying Matt's verbal development as he has moved from signing to single words to two-word combos and now full sentences. Grace's preschool jokes crac me up. Her reading amazes me. Their conversations and questions and comments touch my heart.

So bye-bye, Baby. It's been fun, but now it's time to look forward to new days and phases--to a "big boy bed" and swimming lessons, to preschool and soccer, to lots more growing for all of us. :-) And maybe, just maybe, there will be another baby phase in my future, but for tonight, I'm enjoying the end of an era.

Mommy Time

This morning my kids and I were outside playing... I was enjoying the chance to just be at home for a little while--this is literally the second day in the last month that we have been home all day with no plans--and had gotten caught up on a few things, and I wanted to just take them outside and relax a little.

I was reveling in the fact that they are now getting old enough that I can relax a little while they play. They are starting to outgrow the need for constant monitoring when we play outside, which is so nice. (Well, Grace has been out of that stage for a while, but Matt is so into everything, I thought he'd forever need a keen eye on him!) So I took a book outside with me--yes, a book, and it had nothing to do with parenting or child development or anything like that!--and sat on the ground to read while they romped.

A few minutes later Grace came up to me. "Do you want to play rocks with me?"

"I will in just a few minutes," I replied.

"Why are you not gonna do it now?" she asked (because she must have a question for everything).

"Because I'm having Mommy Time right now."

"Oh." (Pause.) "Can I have Mommy Time too?"

Oh no, I thought. My precious little girl. How selfish of me to just be sitting here uninvolved, not playing with my dear children, who will be leaving me for school before I even know it! "Of course you can have some Mommy Time, Honey!" I put my book down and grabbed Gracie to give her a big hug.

"Thanks." (Another pause.) "What's Mommy Time?"

At this point I started to laugh at myself just a little, but was still feeling the sting of the lesson that surely was sent to me directly from God Himself. "Well, for you it would be special time that you and Mommy get to play."

"Oh. No thanks. I just want to play by myself."

Ahhhhhh....... the joys of that self-made Mommy Guilt!

At least I was able to find where I left off in my book................

Peace

A few years ago, I had surgery. It was a minor procedure—outpatient, actually—but I was still quite nervous about it. I worried for weeks… but not the day of the surgery. That day I was relaxed, happy, joking—and honestly, a little amused at how nervous my husband and mom were for me. I, however, was experiencing "the peace of God that transcends understanding" (Philippians 4:7).

And that's how I've always thought the peace of God works: You have a big trial or something monumental that you just don't know if you can get through, and then God gives you His peace. Right?

But tonight I experienced His peace in a very different way. In a small way, but in a way that has given me a new appreciation for peace.

Life with two little ones (1 and 3) is stressful. Life with a self-employed husband is stressful. The combination can be a killer! Add to that the work I am doing on planning a conference for my MOPS group, and a few other commitments that I have made, and it has been a crazy couple of weeks. Nothing major, but little thing on top of little thing on top of little thing…

And then tonight, peace. First, I went out to dinner tonight with my two closest girlfriends. We all have kids and tons of things going on, and we just don't get to spend the time together that we should. But tonight we did. And then I came home… and it wasn't a situation that I would normally have found peaceful. Although my babysitter does a fantastic job of cleaning up (Yay!), and my one-year-old was asleep, my three-year-old was still awake (almost 2 hours past bedtime)… laying in bed with her Fisher-Price dollhouse and several books. OK, I need to take a moment and confess something here.......... I think I'm a bit of an uptight mom. I am not a "take some stuff to bed until you fall asleep" mom. I am not a "bedtime is 8ish" mom. I am a "bedtime is 8:00, not 8:02, and you may take ONE stuffed animal to bed with you" mom.

Another confession: Coming home to find her awake and playing at 9:45 would normally have ruined my evening. (Yes, I know, I need to work on that……..) But tonight, it was just what I needed. Tonight I paid the babysitter and then went upstairs and laid down with my daughter. I listened to her sing songs, I talked to her about her day, I relaxed as she "petted" me (stroked my hair), and I enjoyed the one-on-one time with her that I don't get nearly enough.

That's when it hit me: This, too, is the peace of God. The much-needed refreshing that comes from time with friends. Coming home to a neat house after leaving two children in the care of a young girl. And more than anything, enjoying a quiet moment with my daughter instead of feeling frustrated over a situation that I can't change.

I left Gracie's room with a smile on my face and in my heart. I'm going to bed relaxed, thanking the Lord for good friends, a beautiful family, and peace in the midst of normal times. J

A Mother’s Day Tribute… to my husband :-)

I know it has been almost a week since Mother's Day, but I just had to brag on my hubby a little. He is such a gift from God.

Let's start with planning. I am normally in charge of all gift buying in our house (except my own J), but this year I just could not think of what to get for our moms. "Don't you worry about it," he said, "It's taken care of." He even got all of the cards! WOW!

On Mother's Day, I was scheduled to sing in the praise band at church, so I had to leave the house around 7:00 AM. When I came back to pick them up at 9:00, they were standing outside ready to go—he had even done Grace's hair! (He was so proud of himself. J) AND they were all in good moods, which doesn't always happen. They gave me two cards, one from Jon and one from the kids. What a great start to the day!

After church, my parents and mother-in-law came over for lunch. I did a lot of the cooking, but because I wanted to, not because I had to. Jon was there helping, and he immediately took over all tasks that he knows that I don't like—unloading the dishwasher, chopping vegetables, and he even changed a poopy diaper!

After lunch he cleared the table and got us all ice cream. Then he gave each of us (my mom, my mother-in-law, and I) our cards. Each one had in it a gift certificate to a spa, a gift certificate to a restaurant that I've been dying to try, and a whole Mapquest plan of our girls' day. (The three of us are all very close, so we will really enjoy a day together.) It was such a special gift!

But the best part of the whole day wasn't what he did, it wasn't what he bought, it was how he did it all. He had such a wonderful attitude. He never once complained or sighed or hesitated to jump in and help. He wanted to do whatever he could to honor me—and our moms. And that was the best gift of all.

Mommy Encouragement (just a few words)

At the end of a long day with two little ones, where I am alternately wondering when my son will start talking more and thinking about the fact that my baby girl is turning three soon, I am reminded of this thought I read in a magazine recently:
The days can drag past so slowly, but the years fly by.

Enjoy the days, even the long ones, because they'll be gone before you know it!