On Being Content

I'm about to get real serious on y'all. 

Lately, I have been hearing about a lot of pretty crappy things happening to a lot of my friends and family. I have friends who are literally desperate to have children and keep enduring loss after loss. I have one best friend who is losing her dear mother in law to a painful cancer. Another best friend just started the foreclosure process on her house because, after 2 years on the market, they just can't carry a mortgage and rent anymore. A sweet family member is dealing with a totally crazy illness which has sent her to the hospital for weeks at a time and she is only 16 years old. Another friend from high school had to watch her young baby go into open heart surgery recently. I mean, these people are going through some heart wrenching stuff. And some of them are going through it over and over and over again.

And yet.....

I have the nerve to ask my accountability group to pray for the discontent in my heart. I was feeling jealousy towards those who have things I want. A new car. A new home. Nicer clothes. A better looking booty. 

What the hell is wrong with me?

I asked my closest friends to pray that God would help me be content with what I have. Not just content, but to know and feel truly blessed by the things He has provided. And y'all....it worked. These are some serious prayer warriors in my accountability group. For real. Even for such a selfish, vain, disgusting request.

Over the past few weeks, I feel like the Lord has used story after story to slap me in the face and say, "look at what these people are dealing with. THEY have reason to be discontent....now, shut your mouth and love on your babies." So I have.

Would I like a newer car. Sure. Does my car work, keep me and my babies safe, allow me to get to work and home? Yes. 

Would I like a newer home with room for a game room and not as many projects on the to-do list? Yes. Does my home have a roof to keep us warm and safe at night? Do I get the honor of hearing my babies laugh and play in the back yard? Do I have a kitchen which allows me to make meals to nourish my babies? Yes.

Do I wish I could lose a little weight, look a little more toned, and have the newest clothes? Of course. Is my body strong and healthy? Does it allow me to take care of my babies? Does my husband think I am a hottie? Yes.

Are my kids a little loud, a little crazy, a little frustrating? Yes. Have I been given the biggest blessing that God can hand down? Are these little boys, MY little boys? Was I blessed to conceive them on my own and without medical intervention? Are the healthy? YES.

So, I am going to shut my mouth, accept these amazing blessings and praise God every.single.day. for them. 

A Day in the Life

I have been seeing these posts floating around the blogosphere a lot lately and, after a little debate, decided that it would be a fun way to document a day in our everyday lives. This is a pretty accurate description of a Monday or Friday at our house. We have school Tuesday-Thursday, so those days are their own type of crazy busy. But Monday and Friday are for relaxing, playing and running errands! So here you go, a day in the life of the Ley family!

6:45 am....Daniel Tiger and sippy cups of milk! Those creepy eyes behind them belong to their new Thomas tent....and it is just as creepy when it is open.

7:15....Our daily battle with food begins. Jonathan refused to eat his waffle (which was covered in honey) and blueberries...Seriously, who refuses a waffle?

8:05...I thought Jonathan's dentist appointment was at 11:00....when I called to confirm at 8:00, I learned the appointment was at 8:15. Awesome. So I literally threw the boys in the car without brushing their hair or teeth. We made it :)

9:15...hitting the gym!

11:00....playtime with Jonathan's new sand box and baseball bat. Who knew those two went together so well?

12:15....a quick walk. Notice that Jonathan doesn't have shoes on....this kid HATES wearing shoes. In fact, now that I think about it, they both hate shoes.

12:30....I can never get Matthew to eat anything....unless it's taco meat. Look how excited he is to be eating tacos....what a weird kid. And yes, I realize that looks like dog food....but I promise, it's legit.

1:30....TONS of laundry while the boys are napping.

3:00....quality time with Jonathan since he woke up before Matthew. So easily amused, this one.

4:00....snack time outside! Don't be fooled, he didn't eat that hummus. He just liked dipping his hand in it.

6:00....time for a rest and a show while Mommy makes dinner. I would say he was a little tired....

6:01....apparently, he found some energy.

6:30....They are actually eating!! YAY! Tortilla soup (just the chicken and corn) and brown rice. I think Matthew just likes anything seasoned with chili powder and cumin.

7:00.....bath time!

7:30....Daddy is home!! I hate that this one turned out so blurry....it is such a perfect representation of how they greet Zack every night! And for the record, my entryway isn't bright, lemon yellow. 

7:45....bedtime! I put Matthew down while Zack hung out with Jonathan. Once Zack has successfully riled him up, he attempts to put him to sleep. Isn't that what all Dads do??

So there you have it! A day in our crazy, hectic lives. This day was actually really nice and relaxing. The weather was beautiful, so we just hung out outside a whole lot. We did make a trip to Sams, Garden Ridge and Hobby Lobby, but that was it. And the dentist.....oh, the dentist. There was lots of stress there. For all of us. But all in all, a beautiful, blessed day!

A Full Fledged Preschooler....

Jonathan no longer falls under the toddler category. It is no longer acceptable to call him my baby boy. He is a real deal, full fledged, big boy 3 year old. And he doesn't hesitate to tell everybody who asks. Oh, and give him about 5 minutes and he can show you that he is 3 with his fingers....poor kid can't seem to work that pinky finger....

We haven't actually had his birthday party yet (that's this weekend) but we did do lots of celebrating on his real birthday. In fact, he has been celebrating since last Thursday when he took cookies to his friends at school. And while we are on that, I had a serious emotional moment when we went to pick out his treats for his class. I couldn't believe we were already at that point. Out of all the things we did for his birthday, this hit me the hardest. I just can't figure out when he got so big. Big enough to need treats for his class. He was so excited to be allowed to pick them out himself.....and he ended up with bright pink cookies with lots of sprinkles. Not Zack's favorite choice, but Jonathan was thrilled :)

We spent the weekend doing lots of fun things with our sweet little guy. Pancakes for breakfast, the big rodeo parade, lots of outside time and then a trip to the rodeo to see all his favorite animals. After all of that, his favorite thing was riding the ferris wheel at the end of the night....he said he was as high as an airplane and couldn't have been happier. He had the biggest smile on his face and waved to Daddy and Brother every time we came back around :)

Watching the Parade with Daddy!

Enjoying some yummy rodeo food and watching the horses!

These days, Jonathan can be a handful ...Just this morning he spilled an entire bottle of bubbles on the kitchen floor....but man, is he amazing. He is so, so smart. It has been such a joy to watch him learn over the past year. He just craves information and you can almost see his little brain working when he is figuring out new things. He truly loves his brother and gets so excited when Matthew comes in his room in the morning. Sometimes he is too rough with him, but not on purpose (most of the time) and they have so much fun together.

This was Jonathan's handiwork in the bath the other day....luckily, Matthew is pretty patient!

A few things about my boy at 3....

- He rarely eats. Anything. But little man LOVES whole milk. When he does eat, his favorites are hot dogs, cereal with milk, waffles, yogurt and chicken nuggets.

- He still takes about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and sleeps like a champ at night!

- Potty trained during the day, VERY far from being potty trained while asleep.

- Favorite shows are Daniel Tiger, Thomas, Barney and Fireman Sam

- He LOVES to be outside....swinging, riding his bike, running, playing at the park etc...

- He knows all his shapes, colors, letters and numbers 1-20 by sight. He can even count backwards from 10! He knows his colors and numbers 1-10 in Spanish too. He loves reading letters out loud and points them out while we are driving :)

- His favorite books are Curious George, books about trucks/tractors/trains, Bible stories (Jonah and the Whale is his current favorite) and Thomas the Train books.

- He loves driving around and really loves going "really high!" on the overpasses. He even tells me to change things up sometimes and "go a different way!" 

It has been a true blessing to be this boys Mommy. I couldn't have asked for sweeter, more fun boys. Thank you Lord, for 3 glorious years with Jonathan Zachary Ley!

Things I used to say before becoming a mom....

Me? Judgmental? Never! 

Me, thinking I could do things better than others when I had kids of my own? Yes.

I realize how awful that sounds, but let's be honest.....you ALL thought/think the same thing. And then you had your kids. And maybe, just maybe, you are Super Mom and you followed through with all your prior thoughts and decisions about raising your kids. But, alas, I am not. And it became glaringly clear today when Jonathan peed in the bushes at the park (again.) Here are a few of the things I said I would/wouldn't do when I had kids.

1. "I will not let my kids eat hot dogs, juice, chicken nuggets or any other processed meal until it is absolutely necessary." Turns out, "absolutely necessary" comes a whole lot faster than I anticipated.

2. "I will always wipe down any surface before my kids touch it." This was thrown out the window the day both boys peed their pants at the playground in the mall. I figure, I could wipe down that table, but my little wipe isn't going to get rid of the hidden gems the kids before them left behind. I just pray it wasn't pee.

3. "I will not let my kids watch more than 15 minutes of TV a day." Oh, poor, naive, little Katy. 

4. "My kids will have a protein  veggie, and fruit at every meal!" I am lucky if they eat ANYTHING at a meal. Now a days, I bribe Jonathan to eat his chicken nuggets by offering him chips. #Momoftheyear.

5. "I will never have THAT kid in the store....if mine starts screaming, I will put a stop to it right away!" Sure, I do this. If by "put a stop to it right away," I meant "pick up anything edible with sugar in it and stuff it in their mouth so they stop being obnoxious."

6. "As soon as my kids start acting up, they will get a spanking and time out!" If I did this every time my boys acted up......whew. My hand would hurt. As it is, I am pretty bad about saying "oh, he didn't really mean to throw that ball at Matthew's head and make him cry all because Matthew took the ball away from him 3 days ago and he is still mad. It was an accident......I can't spank him for an accident."

7. "If my kid ever makes too much noise in a restaurant  I will immediately take him outside and give him a talking to!" Screaming kid? What screaming kid? All I hear is my little angel talking quietly to his bowl of chips and queso. No issues here.....

Those are just the few I can think of now. In all seriousness, I think it is hilarious how we all think we will be these amazing, perfect parents. We will do everything right, nothing too controversial, follow the rules that all the books spell out for us...and then, we have our kids and realize that those things just don't work sometimes. At the end of the day, we all love our babies. We want the very best for them and most of the time, we don't care how we achieve that. I wish that all of us would look around, pat each other on the back and say "good work Mama!" Even if you don't agree with everything that Mama is doing....they are doing their best. Give them some mad props for it.

So, shout out to all my Mama friends! You guys are doing an amazing job! Keep proudly sneaking your kiddos those juice boxes and chicken nuggets....no judgement here!! :)

Things that make me happy.

Lately, my goal every day has been to find and focus on the things that bring me joy. Most of the time, they are little things....you know, the cliche, sappy things that we all say "make us happy." My kids laughing, bedtime, a good dinner etc...Others are a bigger deal. Like my new pair of jeans. Either way, here are a few of them....and for you guys, what is making you happy right now?

1. This weather. Don't get me wrong, I love me some good, seasonal cold weather and I am a little irritated that it is January and 80 degrees outside. But as a parent of two small boys with a ridiculous amount of energy, I am thankful that we can spend hours outside! Here is some proof of our recent adventures...

2. My new jeans. Let's just get it out of the way now and say that I am slowly losing my sense of style. I have had the same pair of ratty old jeans for years and it hasn't really bothered me....until they started to sport holes in the booty. So I hijacked my best friend and forced her to take me shopping. When we walked into the Lucky store, I told the sales lady I needed her help finding the right fit. She looked at the jeans I was wearing and said "Obviously. Those jeans don't fit at all." To which I very quietly answered, "uh...yeah, these are from Target...." Needless to say, I now have a new pair of rockin' jeans that actually fit and don't give me saggy butt.

3. My job. I am a broken record. I love my job. Like, for real. Not in a "well, it's okay and I don't absolutely dread going, but I really would rather be at home...." kind of way. But in a "I can't wait to get there in the morning and come up with awesome stuff to do with my crazy kids and I wonder what little Bella will be wearing (because she has better style than I do and she is three) and I hope I don't get Play Doh in my hair but if I do it's okay because it means we were having fun, and I hope nobody pees on the floor..." kind of way.

4. My boys. Duh. They are awesome and would make anybody happy....but lately, they have become such good friends. I love to hear them talking to each other in the car, watch them running through the hallway together, see them playing in the backyard....And best of all is watching Jonathan become a wonderful big brother. He is so quick to help Matthew do things he can't do on his own and loves to teach him how to do new stuff. Just yesterday, I walked into the bathroom to find them splashing in the toilet water. Matthew doesn't know how to open the toilet seat, so by default, Jonathan is guilty of teaching that little life lesson. I am raising brilliant babies. 

And a few more....Nap time, bedtime, awesome in-laws that watch my kids so I can go shopping, awesome parents who tell me months in advance that they are going to take both boys and watch them for a few days...just so that I can have something to look forward to, successful Pinterest recipes (most of which involve sugar,) reading the blogs of awesome people, the fact that I have 65 episodes of The Office on my DVR right now, my over-abundance of candy stashed in a secret hiding place, amazing friends who are better at getting me out of the house than I am, and last but not least, my sweet hubby who continues to work his booty off for our family. (Can you tell how tired he looks? Even so, he still makes time for our boys. And that my friends, is the sign of an excellent daddy.)

                                    

So, what is making y'all happy right now?

Friday Thoughts...

And now, for a big collection of random thoughts.

 

1. According to my new years resolutions, I am supposed to be more healthy. Well friends, I joined a gym (shout out to Blast Fitness!) and went this morning! I only stayed 40 minutes, but hey, that's better than nothing! AND I drank two full glasses of water (instead of soda) (okay, I have since had two sodas as well....) so basically, I am winning at life today.

 

2. I thought Matthew was working on dropping his morning nap lately since he didn't take one all 3 days at school. Well, today, he went down and slept for an hour and half. I can't figure this kid out. I am a planner extraordinaire and Matthew doesn't seem to be too conducive to that. Not that I am complaining that he wants to keep napping...NO WAY would I complain about that. Just saying, I wish he would fill me in on his plans sometimes. Oh, and brother knows how to run now. RUN. Are you kidding me?!

 

3. Shopping for jeans is basically torture. I don't want to pay for fancy jeans, but I can't find any that don't look like mom jeans or give me a saggy butt. My favorite pair of all time were maternity jeans from Motherhood Maternity......think I could go buy some in a small size and get away with wearing them without anybody thinking I am preggo? That would be awesome. Oh, and the pair I wore yesterday have a rapidly growing hole on the booty and I was so nervous about it that I told my co-teacher to watch it during the day and warn me if it got too shady.

 

4. Seeing as it is Friday, I am spending nap time watching Police Women of Dallas. This show is wild. They just showed a fight between like 50 people at an apartment complex. I just can't believe this stuff actually happens. People are NUTS. Do I live in a bubble? Yes. Do I care? No. I like it in my bubble.

 

5. I have been searching for some really good recipes lately. And let me say, nothing irritates me more (okay, lots of things irritate me....) than recipes that are titled "SUPER easy blah, blah, blah!" and then the recipe has 15 ingredients and calls for things that I can't pronounce. Nothing about that is easy. Nothing. I have however, found some good recipes to make this weekend. So far for dinner, we are having peach cobbler, egg rolls and chicken taqitos. It's cool though....I went to the gym and drank some water. It will all cancel out....

 

6. We have a pack of coyotes and a few owls living behind our house. And y'all....those things are crazy scary in the middle of the night. I swear there have to be like 100 coyotes back there having some kind of coyote rave or something. They are so loud. Zack likes to remind me that unfortunately, coyotes don't party....they eat animals. As it stands, I will continue to imagine their crazy noise is a party and not what it probably is.

 

7. Oh, and it has come to my attention that y'all can't see my pictures. I apologize for my lack of computer/blogger skills. I am bottom of the rung in the blogging world and can't figure anything out. They are showing up fine on my computer.....I will keep working on it though!

 

(This guy on Police Women just got caught with weed and tried to justify it by saying "Dang, everybody in the American population smokes weed! Get off my back!" Ha ha....these people....)

 

Have an awesome weekend!!!

I love them when....

The last few weeks have been hard. I have found myself in LOTS of situations where I had to turn my back, take deep breaths and pray some serious prayers for patience before I turned back around to face the crazy. So, tonight, I am making good on one of my new years resolutions....to be more purposeful in bragging on my boys. True, bringing up the outrageous things they have done isn't exactly bragging, but it is making me laugh :) At the time these things were going on, I thought I would lose my mind. But now, I can see that these things are what make my boys unique, fun, and absolutely tremendous.  My thought is that by tomorrow, when I am up to my eyeballs in crazy again, I can look back and be reminded of how much I truly love my silly boys.

 

I love them even when.....

 

They think throwing their dinner on the floor is more fun than eating it.

They spend more bath time covering themselves with shaving cream than actually getting clean.

 

They do anything, other than sleep, during nap time. (Apparently, emptying the sock drawers is hilarious...)

 

They scream every.single.second they are in their car seat for 9 months straight.

 

They wake up every.single.night for the first 9 months of their life.

 

They learn to take their diaper off and then run around the room (during nap time) naked, resulting in the need to duct tape said diaper on for months.

 

They take all the cushions off the furniture and then shove all their teeny, tiny little toys down in the cracks....only to later scream and cry because they can't find their favorite teeny, tiny toy.

 

They spill chocolate milk all over themselves in the car and when I tell them to take their dirty shirt off in the garage, they decide to take ALL their clothes off and walk down the sidewalk.

 

They pee on the fire hydrant in the neighbors front yard. And in the playground at the mall. And the park.

 

See? My boys are pretty awesome, don't you think? :) All too often, I get lost in the frustrating things they do...because, let's be honest, they do lots of frustrating things. But then, I look at them when they are covered in shaving cream or food...when they are standing on furniture or peeing in the yard (as opposed to their pants I guess) and they are smiling this ridiculously huge smile and they are so tickled by what they did and I just have to laugh...and remember, I love these boys. A LOT.