Terribly Terrific Twos!

The Terrible Twos.

Evey mother who's had a two year old knows what I'm talking about. When a child is two they are testing boundaries and and testing you at every turn.

I was recently thinking about this two year old stage. My oldest son is two right now. It is fun and exciting as he is becoming more independent and communicating more clearly. It is also defeating and frustrating when he does what he shouldn't and makes wrong choices over and over again.

Now that my third child is 4 months old, I am realizing something. Right after he was born, everyone told me to enjoy him, in his new born stage, as he would grow and change so quickly. Having two other children older than him, I knew they were right. As I sit here I realize something else. It is important to cherish every moment, every stage. Yes, even the "terrible twos". The two's are difficult, but they are also so fun! And before you know it, your child will be older. Grown from this stage and onto the next.

So try to enjoy it. Every step of the way. Every mess, every hug, every defeat, your child's or yours, and likewise, every victory. Because the twos really can be terrific, its all about what you the parent, decides they will be. And before you know it, they will be three.

Crying it Out

I think one of the hardest things I've had to do so far is let my baby cry herself to sleep. Tonight is the first night I'm determined not to buckle and go get her. It's killing me. Please reassure me... she needs to learn to soothe herself, right? Any tips on surviving this?

What about you?

I want to hear from some others. What's happening in your family right now?

Teething

Does anyone have any tricks besides Tylenol and Orajel to help us survive the teething process?

Do it Yourself!

I just got back from the Sears Portrait studio today. Yeah, don't go to a studio. I received a coupon in the mail for $25 portrait cash--no purchase necessary. Didn't sound too bad so I decided to give it a try.

The lady at the studio was nice enough, but she talked so fast I could hardly understand her. She took tons of pictures in different poses, backgrounds, and props. Before I knew it, she was roping me into some package that was WAY over my price range. I felt cheated and stuck as she told me the cheapest I could get anything was for $176. What's even worse, instead of saying no and just going home, I bought the stupid package. I can't afford the stupid package, but I was pressured into buying it because she didn't tell me the price until after she had taken and edited all the photos. Ugh! Awful, awful experience.

So, if you're ever wondering if you should go to one of those portrait studios, don't. Take it yourself and use photo shop. You'll get better pictures of your little one and you'll still be able to buy food for the month!

Moment of "Yeah, we'll wait."

This morning I helped babysit my two nieces. The oldest, Eden, is 6 years old and Brooklyn, otherwise known as "Goosey," is 2. With my 6 month old in tow, I had my hands full, but we had fun. So, you may be asking what's the point of this post?

Well, lately I've been having dreams about another little baby. I've teased my husband about adding another sweetie to our family, but I never thought about it seriously. Knowing Goosey's age, I thought, If I had another baby, Sadie would be Goosey and I would be bouncing someone new on my knee... Could I do it? Well, through most of the morning I thought it wouldn 't be too tough.
Then Goosey pooped. Yeah, this was definitely not brand-new-baby-that's-not-too-bad stuff. This was toddler gunk that you could have smelled three rooms away. Eden even commented on the nastiness of the smell and wouldn't come near Goosey. While changing the diaper, I had to hold back my urge to gag. This brought flooding back memories of pregnancy and how often I "worshipped at the porcelen throne." Changing diapers while pregnant? Ooh, there's no way I'd survive! So, I'm sure I won't be getting pregnant again (at least not on purpose, knock on wood) until Sadie is potty trained.

I'll admit it, I'm not brave enough to have kids close together, but there are plenty of mom's that are. Are you one? How do you handle it? If you're not one, why? Do you want to be? Let me hear your thoughts.

Guten Tag auf Deutchland!

So I guess I'll start by introducing myself. My name's Carrie, I have a 5 month old little boy, a full grown great dane, and an Active Duty Air Force husband. We are currently stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Let me tell you, being a military wife is hard. But being a military wife and mom is harder than I could ever have imagined. We have no family around. Our closest friends live about 15 minutes away. The majority of our village doesn't speak English (we don't speak German), and hate us because we're Americans in the military and they don't want us here. I would love to be able to call up my mom and ask her the million questions I have during the day, but I have to wait till it's not 2:00 am in Utah. I can't just take my lil man to Grandma and Grandpa's when I need a break. With Taft in the Air Force, 80% of the time I'm basically a single mom. And I have no idea what I'm doing! I love my little family more than anything and am absolutely loving being a mom. My house is messy more often than it's clean, laundry piles up to overflowing, and dinner is rarely gourmet, because I'd rather spend time with my family discovering the latest trick Parker's mastered.

Parker is starting solid foods and is starting to struggle with breast feeding, and I have no idea what to do. I was working for a little while so he got used to bottles and now doesn't want to work to eat from me. How do you go from breast milk to formula? I'm so grateful Erika invited me to be a part of this blog! Hopefully I can get some help and figure out what I'm supposed to be doing (hint hint :) ).