Balance.

Saturday night, around 1:45 am, I wrote nearly an entire blog post in my head while I rocked Matthew back to sleep. He had woken up crying and when I went to investigate, I found him covered in barf. And his bed covered in barf. And his floor covered in barf. It was gross. It was also the millionth day in a row that something had gone wrong. I was quickly losing my mind. So there, in a dark bedroom, covered by the lingering scent of barf, I wrote an entire blog post about how craptastic my life was going at the moment. It was long, whiny and ridiculous. The best part? I actually woke up later that morning and wrote the entire post and posted it. 

10 minutes later I took it down and deleted it. I realized that all that complaining was too much. Even for me. I am all about being open and honest and "real" but man, that post was rough. I need to refocus...find a better balance between the craptastic week and the beautiful mess.

But real quick.....can I just list all the stuff that has happened this week? Rapid fire style? 

• 3 days of those god-awful fans drying out my house 24 hours a day.
• Deep carpet cleaning with a hospital grade antimicrobial agent....leaving my whole house smelling like a weird, old school hospital ward.
• My boys literally ran wild at Becks Prime Friday night. LITERALLY. I chased them down the hall. And we were there with friends.
• Saturday morning, I realized my car was leaking something. Seeing as my car was in the shop exactly ONE week ago, I didn't think it would be anything....maybe just a little something leftover (shows what I freaking know) So, I schlep the boys to the car shop and wait.....45 minutes later, the guy asks how the flood was going (like I said, I was just there) and when I told him it was still an issue, he said, "well, I'm about to make things way worse." I swear to you, he actually said that. Turns out, I need a timing belt and water pump. $$$$$. And I was told not to drive it or it would blow up or something.
• Took the boys to get their pictures at JC Pennys. It was awful. After a serious cardio work out, we got like, zero good pictures.
• Saturday night, Matthew woke up barfing.
• Sunday was spent cleaning up barf and poop. LOTS of barf. Did ya'll know that when one barfs on tile, it splatters? Like, all over the house.
• Late Sunday night, we finally figured out where the musty smell was coming from in the linen closet....turns out we all neglected to pick up/wash the blankets that got wet in the flood. So I discovered 5 large, soaking wet blankets....that have been soaking wet for over a week. SO GROSS.
• Jonathan started saying he was sick. Develops the nasty nose crusties....that are then spread across his face in like .01 seconds.
• Zack forgot to put a pull up on Jonathan Sunday night....so he woke up Monday morning soaking wet. Along with his sheets, pillows, down comforter and all of his extra blankets and stuffed animals.
• Monday was spent changing 12 dirty diapers. 12 freaking poopy diapers.  Jonathan developed a low grade fever. We spent HOURS watching TV. Oh and we had to postpone a Halloween party we were hosting for our playgroup :(
• Have to miss work/school Tuesday.

Okay....thanks for letting me get all that off my chest. So, now my job is to find the silver lining in all of this. I have to find a balance. I can be all mad and cranky and whiny.....but I have to find something to balance it out. The longer I sit around and think about the bad luck we have had lately, the more bitter and cranky I get. So, allow me to look on the bright side....here is my silver lining.....

• Since we had to have parts of the carpet cleaned, they went ahead and cleaned the whole rooms. So now, two of my bedrooms have beautiful, clean carpet!
• The fans worked, my carpets and baseboards are dry! And, I saved $800 doing it myself!
• Since I couldn't drive my car on Saturday, and Zack was fishing in Galveston Bay all day, it meant that I was forced to stop moving and just be still at home. It was nice to spend a few hours just hanging out with my boys outside, with nowhere to go and nothing to do! They are getting so good at riding their bikes down the sidewalk!
• Obviously, it was sad that Matthew was sick, BUT....I usually let him fuss for a while when he wakes up in the middle of the night. For some reason, on that night, I went in his room after like 3 minutes. It was like my maternal instincts were in high gear. Mom of the year right here. Bam.
• Since we have been stuck at home the past few days with a broken car and sick babies, I have gotten SO much cleaning done in the house! Not to mention the endless loads of wet blankets (those wet from pee and those wet from flood water) that I actually managed to wash, dry and fold!
• And the biggest and most obvious...I have had lots of time with my boys. I'm telling you, these kids are hilarious, even when they are sick. Today, I kept trying to convince Jonathan to get off the couch and do something....finally, he looked at me and said, "MOM. I do NOT want to do anything. I have a headache. I want to watch TV all day." Amen, brother....don't we all just want to watch TV when we feel crummy? And Matthew has wanted lots of cuddles the past few days. You can't beat that. Ever.

THAT  is the list I need to focus on. Life is hard. Life is gross and messy. Kids get sick on the same day cars break down. Bathrooms flood. Carpets sour. It's just life. It's the way we handle those tremendously obnoxious situations that make us better people. So, now that I have gotten all those complaints off my chest, I am done. I won't complain about those things again.....instead, I will focus on my silver lining. And that my friends....is my balance. Praise the Lord, tomorrow is a new day!

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

    for His compassions never fail.

23 

They are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness

-Lamentations 3:22-23

And it continues....

So, we figured everything with the "flood" was pretty much over and done with. And, I guess it really is....but the problem is that there appears to be some residual moisture in the walls, carpets and cabinets. I noticed last night that the floor boards were pulling away from the walls a little and that Jonathan's room smelled a little more odd than normal. So I had the restoration company come by today to let me know what they thought was going on and give me an estimate. Holy crap. Those guys are nuts. The good news was that there really isn't too much damage.....nothing about 10 industrial fans couldn't handle at least. The bad news was that they wanted nearly $1,000 to dry out our hallway. Seeing as how we don't have money growing on the half dead bushes outside, we told them thank you and sent them on their way. 

Our answer was to rent a few industrial fans from Lowes, borrow a few from friends and air out the house ourselves. My Dad drilled a few holes under the sink to help let moisture out and we placed a fan directly in front of it. Then we put fans everywhere we heard the little moisture meter beep. So this is where we are tonight.... 

Could it be way worse? OF COURSE. Will I still complain about it because I am a baby? YEP. We are crossing our fingers that our DIY restoration attempt will do the job. And lest you think we are ignoring a possible mold situation, the professionals were not planning on cutting anything out or replacing carpet or anything....they just said we need to dry it up and deodorize. 

And now, the after pictures! (You actually don't get the before pictures....just imagine a really old school, builder grade bathroom with hollywood lights and plastic towel bars.) We replaced the light fixture, faucet, towel bars, toilet paper holder, added hardware and painted the whole room gray. Next time my parents come, my Mom and I will repaint the vanity and my Dad will put molding around the mirror. I am basically trying to live in a Pottery Barn catalog.

            

And our last project for the weekend was to recover my kitchen chairs! This set is a hand me down from my BFF's attic. It's the perfect size for our breakfast "nook." A few years ago, we painted the 1980's bamboo dark gray and covered the chairs in a dark red. It looked good until the second Jonathan was born. Like, for real. I am pretty sure he spit up on those red chairs on the third day of his little life. Needless to say, they were in need of a makeover....So we found this awesome ticking fabric at Joann, made sure to Scotch Guard it first and went to town! The ticking is dark gray, just like the chairs. I LOVE them!

Overall, a very good, productive weekend. I could have gone without the flood.....but you know, beggars can't be choosers! 

The bright side of a minor flood.

We have had a super crazy, very chaotic, extremely productive weekend around here! My parents came in town on Friday and I had a to-do list for my Dad that was easily a mile long. Now, I love my husband, but he is NOT Mr. Fix It. It's just not his strength.....like, in any way. So, I had a whole bunch of stuff for my Dad to fix when he got here. The back of his suburban seriously looked like a workshop on wheels! On top of my own list of projects, my parents let me know that for Christmas, they would help me remodel our guest bathroom! If any of you know my Mom, she is an interior decorator. She is seriously the bomb.com. My Grandmother was also an interior decorator and antiques dealer. I want to say this stuff is in my blood. And it is.....but so is being a cheapskate (thanks to my accountant Dad.) So even thought I WANT to redecorate my whole house, I don't want to pay for anything. So I just don't do anything. 

Enter my Mom and Dad. 

Friday afternoon we spent hours at Lowes picking out new faucets, light fixtures, drawer and cabinet hardware, and a new paint color. It was so fun getting to pick out new stuff that I didn't have to pay for. We got right to work Friday night and everything was going swimmingly (that was an awesome pun that you will figure out later....) until Saturday morning.

Let me preface this by saying my Dad has replaced a million faucets in his life. He could do it with his eyes closed. Let me also say that my house is 20 years old and (apparently) my plumbing is pretty wonky. So my Dad has turned off the water and is about 30 minutes into replacing the faucet. Things are good. All of a freaking sudden.....the water comes blasting back on. And when I say blasting.....I mean BLASTING. Immediate flood in the bathroom. I am screaming (I was standing there watching when this all happened) and trying to find a bowl. HA...a freaking bowl. As if a bowl could contain the amount of water shooting out of the bathroom. Within 5 minutes, my entire hallway and kitchen were under half an inch of water. So, my Dad and Zack run out to the street to figure out why the water is running when it is clearly turned off. And they couldn't figure it out. The valve was just twisting.....doing NOTHING. So I am in the bathroom screaming, Dad and Zack are outside, my Mom is screaming and here comes the boys....just strolling into the flood like it was no big deal. I think Jonathan actually said something like, "Oh hey guys, what's going on?" So, my Dad comes running back in to try and turn off the shut off valves at the sink, which is blasting out scalding hot water. I don't mean like, warm bath water......I mean like boiling, lava hot. And it's spraying all over my poor Dad while he is trying to get the water valve to shut off (for the record, he had a pretty bad burn on his arm from his heroic efforts!)......just then, the god-forsaken valve BREAKS OFF. That's right, our last chance to get the boiling lava hot water to turn off....BREAKS OFF. So at this point, all hell breaks loose. None of us know what to do. We are all yelling at each other, quite a few curse words are being thrown out, I am sobbing....it was not our proudest family moment. By now, there is an inch of water in the hallway and kitchen. And the water is still blasting. I finally just call John Moore and start sobbing into the phone at the poor woman...."LADY!!!  PLEASE HELP ME!" She probably thought I was abducted and the only thing I could reach was a John Moore magnet with their number on it. 

5 minutes later, praise the Lord, my Dad was smart enough to go into the attic and shut off the hot water heater. This solved the problem momentarily. The water stopped. The skies opened and God, feeling pity for our poor little team, shut down the flood. While we waited for John Moore (who I promised that I would calm down and breathe) we used the wet/dry vac to suck up lots of the water and then (very literally) used every towel in the house to dry up the water. At the end of the day.....the valves were replaced, the faucet installed and all is well. There is a little dampness on the edges of carpets and some discoloration on our tile.....but I can live with that. It could have been SO much worse.....so very much worse. And we really aren't sure why the water turned itself back on....maybe some Halloween prank by some moronic teenagers? 

But, the bright side of all of this.....I got a beautiful new bathroom! After all the craziness, my Mom and Dad jumped right back into things and we got everything installed, painted and cleaned. It looks so awesome! We even had time to reupholster the chairs at my kitchen table AND my Dad finished the other stuff on my list. My parents are machines when it comes to home improvement. Even with all of that, it has been a wonderful weekend with our "Honey and Papa!" The boys couldn't be more happy with them around!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of our crazy adventure (my Dad appears pretty thrilled by that) but trust me when I say it was totally ridiculous. The whole stinking thing. Now, the next thing I want to replace is the washing machine and dishwasher....I am terrified of anything else flooding my house.

Hope you all had a much calmer weekend! :)

Just....happy.

It rained all day at my house. Zack has been MIA lately because of work. Matthew is recovering from a week of being sick. Our fridge is being wonky. A few things in our house are literally falling apart.....

But right now? I am happy. 

Our day started out looking pretty bleak. I forgot to put a pull up on Jonathan last night, so this morning I woke up to him storming in my room, totally naked, yelling, "I AM SOAKING WET!" Awesome. We couldn't go to church in case Matthew was still contagious, so I knew I had hours of time to kill with the boys inside due to the weather. But you know what? It turned into a pretty fun day. We made brownies, colored pictures, had a few dance parties, got to ride bikes during a break in the rain, made a VERY quick trip to Sams....a few good naps later and here we are. A good day. And it made me reflect on the last week, which was a total freak show, and realize that we had so many awesome moments. And then I started thinking of all the tiny little things that make me happy....that often go unnoticed. So I decided to make a list. Because, let's be real.....my blog works best in list form. And now, in case you were dying to know, some of the things that have made me happy lately :)

• The Friendship Song by Carbon Leaf, from the Curious George 2 movie, and Good Morning by Mandisa. Both songs make me want to dance and smile and enjoy my awesome life. (A little too cliche? Sorry bout that...) But for real, they are great and will put a smile on your face. And don't judge me that one of my favorite movies right now is Curious George...it's super cute.

• The fact that this kid is just as content laying on the floor playing super hero as he is when I take him somewhere awesome. If only we were all so easily entertained.

• Anything that makes my house smell like fall. A candle, pumpkin bread in the oven....I don't care. Equal opportunity scent picker here. No wait, I lied....if there is pumpkin bread in my oven, that I actually get to eat later....that wins.

• When the boys play together. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's super cute. They were on "an adventure in a space ship" in this shot....

• When I remember that I hid an entire bag of candy corn pumpkins....and they are all still there....just waiting to be eaten during nap time. Oh, how I love candy corn. I know some of you have differing opinions on this, and that's okay. Just know that you are wrong.

• When Jonathan tries to put his clothes on himself...

• Every now and then, the stars align and all of my favorite shows are on in one night. And sometimes, Zack has to work late on those nights. And sometimes the kids are super tired and NEED to go to bed early. True life, that happened the other night. It was like a perfect night trifecta. And the shows that came on at the exact same time? My DVR loves me enough to tape them.

• Absolutely anything this little guy does...(Not for real...but you get the point. Don't be fooled...he can be pretty mean to his brother and has a decent arm when it comes to throwing food.)

• When, even in the midst of crazy, God reminds me to stop and look around for the things that make me happy. And there, right in front of me, are a million little things to be thankful for. Things that can change my mood around in an instant. Things that are there, every day....if I just remember to look for them.

What little things have been making you happy lately?

Turns out....parenting is hard.

I don't know about y'all, but for me, parenting toddlers/preschoolers is proving to be freaking hard. Every single day I am discovering something that I should do differently. For example, a few months ago, I learned that you shouldn't let your toddler sit on the counter at Chick-Fil-A.....because he will probably fall off. The problem, however, is that I have no idea what the "right way" is when it comes to parenting. Teach them important lessons? No idea. Discipline them in the right way? No idea. Teach them to be awesome, respectful, well mannered children? No idea. 

Let me explain....

• Yesterday at recess (my class shares recess time with Jonathan's class,) I looked over and saw Jonathan fighting with another little boy. My first instinct was to rush over there and discipline my son....but before I did, it came to light that the other little boy was messing with Jonathan first and stole his favorite toy by force. Apparently, Jonathan was just defending himself. And apparently, not just standing there and letting yourself get beat up is a good thing. So now, I am trying to figure out how to teach Jonathan that it is important to stand up for yourself, but really, we NEVER hit or hurt others. It is proving a tough lesson to learn.
• The other day, Jonathan told my Mom to "chill out." Take a guess where he got that from....So we talked about words that adults can use, but that little boys probably shouldn't use. Again, a tough lesson...this time, for both of us. At least I don't use cuss words....
• Lately, Jonathan and Matthew are having a hard time sharing. Matthew wants to play, so he grabs a toy. Jonathan doesn't want to share that toy, so he starts screaming. I yell at Jonathan for screaming and being mean to his brother, but forget that it's pretty lame of Matthew to steal the toy in the first place. Especially since Matthew is plenty old to know what he is doing. So we practice sharing, using our words etc....so far, no dice.
• Matthew has been screaming for no reason. A lot. I try to tell him no and usually swat his hand or something. We have tried time out in his crib when he does it.... He doesn't care. Like, for real.
• A few times this week, Jonathan has corrected his teacher at school for ridiculous things. For example, they were together at the sink today and she had to raise her voice so a student on the other side of the room could hear her. Jonathan looked at her and said, "we do NOT yell!!" I mean, the kid is right....but he can't be telling his teacher what she should and shouldn't do. So how do I teach him that those things are true, but he can't say them to his teacher?!

Somebody please tell me how to raise my boys. Somebody give me all the answers. I just want happy, respectful kids. And I want this to all be much easier. Think, unicorns and rainbows....Oh, even better, think Rainbow Brite riding her unicorn down a rainbow....I want parenting to be like that.

In the last week I....

• Took Jonathan to his second dentist appointment. I give the entire situation 5 stars out of 10. There was still lots of screaming, kicking, crying, throwing.....BUT, he let the dentist look in his mouth with a flash light. So....it was kind of a win. And I kind of gave in and got him a special toy at Target for his small accomplishment. P.S....I LOVED his pediatric dentist and her office. I give her 10 stars.

• Ate a fruit snack off the floor that could possibly have been there for a few days...because I needed some sugar and the kitchen was too far away. And because I have officially hit rock bottom.

• Had a great dinner with my awesome best friend, without my kids being all up in our business. I mean, technically, they were still there... but thanks to the play ground at Los Cucos, they were not REALLY there. It was delightful. 
  
  
• Took the boys to their first professional baseball game! Zack is a huge Cincinnati Reds fan, so our sweet friends invited us to the game when they played the Astros. I love these pictures so freaking much....And, Jonathan stood like that, with his little glove up in the air, forever!! He was so sad he didn't catch a ball. I mean really, how sad is that picture!?

• Watched the same episode of Duck Dynasty 3 different times. That show is beyond hilarious to my simple, reality TV tainted mind. As for all the rumors that it is scripted....I don't care. If it is scripted, then it's well written and makes me laugh. So...whatever. Keep doing whatever it is you guys are doing, A&E. 

• Attended the Living Water International charity gala. It was amazing. Seriously. If you are looking for a charity to become involved in, I suggest this one. They do awesome stuff. Not to mention it was pretty fun to get dressed up, go out without kiddos, eat a great dinner and hear some amazing speakers from around the world....all of whom love the Lord. Unfortunately, this was the best picture we got before hand.....if this doesn't describe our relationship, I don't know what does.

• 
  
  
  Overall, a pretty solid week. I could have gone without the dentist situation and probably should refrain from eating the kids snacks off the floor....but whatever. We all have our issues. (and I can't, for the life of me, get rid of that random bullet point next to our picture....I am the worst.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Epic.

What I witnessed this morning at the dentist, can only be described as "epic." And not in a good way. But in an, "oh, mother of all craziness, that kid is not human..." kind of way.... Let me preface this by saying that I really do love my dentist office. The staff is super sweet and man, did they give it their best effort. The responsibility of this rests solely on the shoulders of my over dramatic son. And maybe mine....since I am in charge of raising him. But for the sake of my sanity, we will say it is all on him.

Jonathan has been to the dentist like 4-5 times already. He always cries a little, usually refuses to comply and makes a scene. But it is usually pretty fast and up until now, he was small enough that it could be considered cute and sad. So, knowing what I was in for, I started preparing him about a week ago. Lots of talk about the dentist....books, TV shows, practice etc...He recently got a spin brush, so he was even used to the noise and movement in his mouth. I thought we were good. The kid even let me floss his teeth last night! So, this morning, we showed up armed with Cailou on the iPad, tons of pictures to look at on my iPhone, books, juice, fruit snacks for after and a standing bribe of a new truck if he was brave. 

2 minutes... That's how long he lasted once we went back before he lost his cool. Literally, as soon as we sat down he started crying. Oh! And did I mention Matthew was with us? Ha! Luckily, he was pretty chill and looking at pictures on my phone. The hygienist then let me know that we are going to do his first round of x-rays today....just two little pictures. Surprisingly, Jonathan let her put the weighted vest on him (I put one on too) and, for a second, I thought we were going to dodge the bullet.  Oh, how naive I was. The SECOND she showed him the bite wing (I think that's what it is called) he started screaming. Not just a little scream....but a bloody murder, being mauled by a bear in the middle of a wild fire scream. There was no reasoning with him, so I just started to cram that stupid thing in his mouth. The hygienist tried her hardest to make it work, but my boy is strong. AND LOUD. And can clamp his teeth closed like a freaking wild animal trap. At this point, Matthew, as if hearing some kind of secret brother message being sent by battle cry, started crying his opposition to the situation. So we give up on the x-rays for a minute and take the vests off. She wheeled Matthew back into the room and he calms down and goes back to looking at pictures, apparently convinced that the danger to his brother has passed. Jonathan even calmed down for a minute. 

So she gets the mirror (which we talked a lot about this week) and starts looking around. All was fine, until she used a little pointer to COUNT HIS TEETH. She was barely even touching them and definitely was not hurting him. Brother Man LOST IT. At this point, there was screaming, snotting, crying, shaking, kicking, attempting to roll himself out of the chair....it was bad. I am trying to shove Cailou in his face, which makes him cry louder. But let's be honest....doesn't that weird little bald kid freak you out too? So he throws the iPad to the floor in an act of protest. Matthew then throws my iPhone to the floor in an act of solidarity with his brother. Who knew these two were so tight? At this point, they are both screaming, but I was NOT giving in. I took Jonathan to the bathroom, gave him a "come to Jesus" talk, and marched him back to the chair. He stayed chill for like 30 seconds and the hygienist was able to polish half of his teeth...and he was cool with that. I think he realized that it felt like his tooth brush....Then she made a fatal error. She brought out the spit sucker. And that was it. Through his snotty screams, he kept yelling, "PLEASE! Can I go home and go to time out and get a spanking!?!" PLEASE!" That's right....my son would rather have a spanking and go to time out, than sit through the dentist. I actually asked the her if she could just do her work while his mouth was wide open and screaming, you know, cram those tools in their in between wails....She looked at me like I was an idiot and said "Uh, well....we have other clients." Oh, yeah...right....we aren't alone in here. 

And so, we left. Having had NOTHING done but half of his teeth polished. In a brief moment of "I'm the most terrible Mom in the world," I told him his teeth were all going to fall out at home because he was so awful at the dentist. Of course, this made him scream louder. So, I took the march of shame with my two wild chimpanzees, one of which was yelling "I don't want my teeth to fall out!" and the other crying for no good reason.

Ya'll....I cried the whole way home. I have NEVER been as embarrassed as I was walked out of that office. And you know what, my little guy was just scared. That's all it was. HE. WAS. PETRIFIED. He calmed down on the way home and spent some alone time in his room chilling out. We talked about things when he was ready to come out....he was just terrified and had no idea how to tell me that. If you know Jonathan, you know he is a pretty sensitive guy. He is scared to death of Monkey Joes (one of those inflatable bouncy house places) and covers his ears any time there is a loud noise. The kid closed his eyes for like half of the shark ride at the Aquarium....he is just sensitive. So this? This sent him over the edge. You live and learn I guess. As much as I love my dentist, I came straight home and made an appointment for him with a pediatric dentist. A place with more toys, kids movies, private rooms and special "non-gag" bite wings. Will it make a difference? Who knows....but I have to try.

So that's how I got here....sitting on the couch, eating brownies and downing my 3rd diet Coke of the day.