Real Parenting Moments Vol V

When I wrote my last “Real Parenting Moments” post, being a mom felt heavy. It was about three weeks after Jamie had returned home from overseas, and we were failing over and over again at correcting a specific negative attention-seeking behavior from Hadley.

Thankfully that storm blew over entirely after a couple weeks that were nothing short of maddening, and I’m finding myself today content, settled, and “in my groove” as a mom of two. Ask me in 10 minutes and maybe things will be different. 😉

If you’re new to this series, you’ll find stories that evoked big feelings and/or big laughs from our day-to-day lives. My husband and I like to keep track of these “palm to forehead” moments so that we can remember them and laugh about them for years to come, even if they made us a little crazy at the time.

1. Hadley is neck-deep in the stage of saying “Mom mom mommy mommy mom mommy” all day long. Sometimes I find this really sweet and I play right along with every question she has or statement she makes. Other times I search for tape to keep my mouth shut so that I don’t blow a gasket (because she’s not doing anything wrong after all.) Both my parents and Jamie’s parents say that they have zero pity for us because we were both classic first-born chatterboxes like Hadley. 😉
2. My mom and I were walking around IKEA a couple weeks ago with the girls, and halfway through our shopping Sadie produced quite the diaper. If you’ve even been in an IKEA (the one in Kansas City in particular), you understand that the store is kind of like one big long aisle that you follow from start to finish. You can’t just easily pause your shopping and run to a bathroom. Luckily we ironically found a bathroom display with a “hidden area” that we ducked into that we could semi-discreetly change her. I tried changing her right there in her car seat, but that didn’t quite work and the next thing you know my mom and I are both holding her up and tag-teaming wiping and reapplying a diaper. It was disastrous and hilarious.
3. One of my favorite things in the world right now is when I’m nursing Sadie and she locks eyes with me and stops eating to flash her insanely sweet smile. I can’t explain the blissful place I’m in during those moments.
4. Any time someone (or even Teddy) gets hurt or has a new cut, Hadley immediately assumes they have to go to the doctor. She then explains that “Mommy get a shot. Mommy get a band-aid. Mommy get a sticker. Mommy get a cookie!” Then Mommy (or whoever is supposedly going to the doctor) will also get to see the fish tank (in the waiting room). Listening to her go through the whole scenario every time makes us laugh so hard!
5. A few weeks ago we were at the KC airport heading to Florida, and I wanted to take Hadley to the bathroom and change Sadie’s diaper before we boarded the flight (which was going to happen in 10 minutes). There was only one bathroom semi-nearby (a couple minute walk away from our gate) and it only had three stalls. I needed the handicap one so that I could fit Sadie’s stroller, so I stood by letting everyone in line pass me as I waited for this particular stall. Home girl was taking her tiiiiiime, and five minutes later I was still waiting in line. I now had no time to hand off the stroller to Jamie or find another bathroom, so when the third stall at the far end of the very crowded bathroom opened up, I bolted. There was no way I could fit Hadley, me, and Sadie’s stroller in the stall, so I put the stroller as far into the stall as I could and then peed with the door open. I figured nobody would be hanging down at the end of the bathroom for no reason, but if they happened to get a peek hopefully they would look away, recognizing the dilemma I was in. Good grief… it was a hot mess! And you better believe that Sadie did her biz as soon as we found our seats on the plane. Traveling with tiny kiddos is always eventful!
6. Some of you that have been reading this blog for a while know that Hadley sleeps with a ton of books and toys and loves playing in her bed. While she was napping on Sunday I ran around Marshall’s and found the cutest set of a dozen mini board books about Finding Dory (which Hadley loves). I bought them and scattered them around her bed like Santa Clause while she was sleeping and peeked on her 100 times waiting to see her reaction when she woke up and saw them. Sure enough she was sooooo excited to tell Jamie and me about her Finding Dory books that were “magically” in her bed! Finding so much darn joy in these “silly” little things reminds me how much I love being a mom to these two babes.

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