What am I doing?!

I have been finding myself in a bit of disarray lately; putting the milk cap back into the refrigerator instead of the entire jug, trying to fit one of Ben’s socks on Jack’s big ol’ honkin’ feet, cutting up food for Jackson into Benaiah sized pieces. Forgetting about laundry that I put in that morning. And the same response is always uttered out of my mouth, “ugh. What am I doing?!”

 

You see, life in the past 6 months has gotten a little out of control. Mark decided to start taking classes for his master’s the same month Benaiah was born. It wasn’t too terrible at first. One night class per week meant he was only gone one night. That meant that I had the boys by myself for one entire day/night only one time per week. Fine. A little stressful with a newborn and crazy 1.5 year old, but I could handle it. However, this past semester the crazy of one night class per week turned into chaos with TWO night classes per week. I know I should be able to handle this, but seriously, trying to take care of these two munchkins all by myself starting Tuesday morning and not ending until Thursday evening is getting a little bit old. ­Why did we decide to wait until we had kids for Mark to go back to school?! And why do I find myself agreeing to let him take THREE classes this next semester?! Silly.

So, there is why things feel a little out of control. But to top it all off, I am trying to make a go of a new business. Photography and design. I am super excited, but dang. I should have been working on this before we had kids. What was I thinking starting it after the second babe? Silly.

Well. There is my sob story of why I am NEVER blogging anymore. I am truly sad that I just don’t get to write down all the fun stuff that happens, but maybe soon things will settle down a bit. Winter always brings on quietness. Right?!

Benny Boy…

Mark just said to me this morning, as I was snuggling with Benny while he drank his bottle, “He is big. He doesn’t look like a baby anymore”. Talk about crushing a momma! But it is true. Benny is growing up, and fast. He is so close to walking it is crazy. He took his first little step last night after his bath. He stepped, looked at me and said “ooooohhhh” with a big smile and then fell to his rumpus. It was like he was so impressed with himself he just couldn’t take it and had to rest J

*update: Benny just took three steps tonight!

Ben is pretty verbal with his sounds. He says momma and daddy. He is working on Jackson (or his version anyway) and says a mumbled ‘kitty’ when he sees Bo. He will wave his hand in the air when he is all done eating and say ‘da daaaan” (all done). He is also waiving and saying ‘bu baaaaa’ (Bub Bye) and he throws his hands in the air sometimes after prayer for the “Amen!”. He likes to mimic any noise that Jackson makes, and has a hilarious fake laugh.

He is working with a spoon during his meals right now and is actually doing pretty well. No where near using it correctly but totally has the concept down. He is also very territorial over said spoon. Don’t EVER try to take it away before he is ready, he will definitely let you know if it was too soon. Benny likes to throw his drink cup over the tray at every meal and then lean over the side and say ‘uh ohhhh’ to the cup. This seriously happens at every meal. 

The apple orchard was really hard work for Benny boy. 

Benny Boy is so sweet. He has a sweet little smile that completely melts me, and his laugh is just great. If I ever lie down on the floor he will come crawling over to me like a Brahma bull, snorts and all (and giggles and slobbery kisses). OH! And Heaven forbid I should ever leave the room without him…But when this boy wants something to happen that isn’t….look out! Wowza. He will let you know when something is not right in his world by screaming and crying. Big ol’ tears….no messin’ around.  If Jackson is too close, scream. If I took the wash cloth away in the tub, scream. If I tell him not to touch the dishwasher, big pouty lip, cry, then scream. Most of the time he flings himself forward when he is really sad, which is fine when he is on the carpet, but not good when he is in the tub!

Benaiah’s hair is getting so long. That, combined with the fact that he is the sweatiest little hot box I have ever met, puts him having CRAZY hair each time I get him up from his nap! Out of Control! Like Einstein-out-of-control. 

Jackson…

 

Where do I even begin with this kid?! He is 2 going on 13. How would I describe him….Sassy. Sassy. Sassy. Stinker. Sassy. Hilarious. Sassy. Smart. Sassy. Witty. And Snuggly.

Let me start with the sass.

I am a pretty quiet person. I do not like confrontation and try to avoid it at all costs. I also do not like arguing. These types of activities really drain me. I just don’t perform well under this type of stress, however, Jackson has made it his personal goal to ‘teach’ me how to deal with a person like this…daily. Ugh.

 

Witty.

Because J is so far ahead verbally for a normal two-year old he has yet to develop his ‘filter’. So, whatever he is thinking, he will say. I tell him not to sass me and his response is not “yes mommy’, but rather what he is thinking, “no, I WILL ass you mommy.” And if I should try to ignore said comment (especially the part where he leaves out one of the ‘s’s’ in Sass) he will just continue to say it until he gets a response.

Today these were the words he was trying to use to be naughty “Anyways” “Anysing” (anything) and “Nosing” (nothing).

Context: “Mommy, ANYWAYS. ANYWAYS, mommy” “No, I will not use da potty, MOMMY. ANYWAYS”. Who yells ‘anyways’?!

He is having a really hard time getting the right context down for anything and nothing. When I ask him to repeat what he said he will say “anysing.” When he means he doesn’t want anything for breakfast (which is not allowed) he will say “I want anysing, mommy”. We’ll get there.

Notice the tool of choice for team Daddy and Jack?!

Stinker.

Oh and here is another reason why I haven’t been blogging for the last two months: POTTY TRAINING. Enough said.

Actually, not enough said. My child is poop trained. He will go into the bathroom without prompting, shut the door (because he tells me he wants “pivacy”) and go on his potty chair. #1 though, no luck. He will not go unless I keep him naked on the bottom half. I have tried potty charts with stickers, rewards after each deed, taking things away, time-outs for wetting, etc. HELP!!!! How do I teach him the feeling of having to go without being naked?! And why is he doing the one on his own that supposedly takes the longest to figure out?!

Jackson loves being active with his body and mind. He loves playing outside, doing little crafts with gluing and cutting involved, and visiting new places and people. He will tell stories for days about being in a new place or something he did over the weekend with one of his papas’.

Jack was not impressed with sticking his hand inside the pumpkin

Hilarious.

He has also turned into quite the story-teller. He recently relayed a story about a horse (he really likes stories that involve horses) named Farmall H that was in a trailer that Jackson was pulling with the help of a cow eating strawberry hay. The cow’s name was deodorant. Both the cow and horse were silly. Neither of them were naughty.

CRAZY!!

I love that he is at the age where we can have full conversations together. The things that he comes up with are intriguing and a good reminder to be careful about the people and situations he comes in contact with. He is also becoming quite the little jokester. He has one particular joke that his dad taught him about a bunny whose nose was runny. But he always gets so excited to get to the punch line that he completely misses the middle and ends up yelling “SNOOOOOOTTTTT” and just laughing hysterically. This makes the person he is reciting to die of laughter and just urge him to do it all over again. Fun stuff J

 

Sleeping in his big boy bed!

Snuggly.

J is so into reading lately. One of his most favorite things to do is to read stories. He is also getting so good at reading them back to me. I am always amazed at what he retains the first time he hears a book. Smart as a whip, I tell you! Each time we sit down he needs to be as close to me as he possibly can be. This isn’t just happening during our reading time though. During breakfast our chairs need to be touching. During lunch he will ask me about 5 times if he can sit on my lap. After his nap he just wants to sit on the couch under a blanket and watch the ‘wedder dye’ (weather guy). And just today he declared “You are my favorite mommy in the best world I’ve ever seen!” He is a special little feller and he knows how to get to his momma!

 

Chad holding our bag of apples and some really crazy cowboy we met on the trail!

*The photos are mostly from my birthday outing to an apple orchard with my parents