It’s bizarre how parenting makes you feel your highest highs and lowest lows, often all in the same day hour. And that’s what these posts are all about. What a journey.
A few stories from lately –
- Last week Jamie and I were watching our new favorite show This is Us, and we heard Hadley call out his name. He walked back to see what was up, and she said she wanted water (she very rarely, if ever, asks for this once she’s in bed). The next thing I know she’s running out to the living room with a big smile on her face because she’d successfully convinced her Daddy to let her out of bed. Once she got her water, Jamie told her to run back to her room, but I piped in and told her to come see me. All of a sudden, I just wanted to snuggle her a little while longer while we were watching TV. I don’t feel like I get to do that as often anymore since I had Sadie. Five minutes later one of the characters on the show, a young boy about 10 years old, begins struggling to swim and is panicking under the water for a while before he’s able to grab on to something to pull him up. The whole scene was happening in slow motion on TV, and I didn’t breathe. I don’t think Jamie did either. Neither of us said a word. He simply grabbed my hand, and I held Hadley tight. It brought back very intense emotion for us, and I’m so thankful that Hadley was in my arms to squeeze against my body while we watched that scene.
2. On a lighter note, Hadley has been running around saying a curse word, but not on purpose. She heard her friend Jack say that he wanted his mom (my friend Meg) to be a witch for Halloween, so for the past few weeks Hadley’s been talking proudly about how Meg’s going to be a witch… but with a b… for Halloween. Oh it makes us laugh SO hard.
3. Besides two terribly annoying potty training regression stages (right when Sadie was born and again after Jamie got home from his deployment), Hadley has been potty trained since January. We’ve still had her potty chair set up in her bathroom because that’s where she’s most comfortable going, but Jamie and I were about DONE cleaning the potty chair (plus she was refusing to go #2 on big toilets when we are out and about, and that’s a problem for her little belly). On a whim we decided that it’s time for her to use the normal toilet (with a child’s seat on it) from now on. She had no issues for the first week, but all of a sudden she started getting upset that her potty chair was gone and demanded I go get it from the basement (she’s way too smart.) I ended up telling her that I shipped it to Tante (Aunt) Jenn in Florida at the beach for cousin Carly, and she totally bought it. When we were on FaceTime a couple days later Jennifer played along and we all talked about the potty chair being in Florida now. No problems with the big toilet since. 😉
4. Sadie got her six month vaccines on Tuesday morning, but 24 hours later she started breaking out in hives. Her doctor’s nurse said to just keep an eye on her since she didn’t have any other symptoms, so we put her to bed as usual around 8. At 11 Jamie woke me up telling me that Sadie had a big reaction on her face and that she was making odd snoring noises (unusual for her). The nurse had assured me that if this was super serious it wouldn’t turn life-threatening very quickly, so I didn’t want to jump the gun and take her to the ER. I did want to keep a close eye on her though, so I grabbed a pillow and blanket and snoozed for the night on the floor next to her crib. It wasn’t comfortable, but I wasn’t leaving that girl’s side. I was able to peek on her frequently and listen for irregular breathing. She’s doing better now, but the doctor said that we’ll definitely have to talk about this potential reaction before her next round of shots.
5. Who can relate? – There are few situations that make me lose my cool faster than when Sadie is screaming bloody murder because she’s tired, but we’re about to get in the car to leave, and I’m trying to get myself together, and get Hadley to the bathroom, and meanwhile Sadie is just hollering for her life. It really makes my insides nearly explode because I hate hearing her cry but FOR CRYING OUT LOUD (har har) WE HAVE TO GET OUT THE DANG DOOR.
6. With that being said, walking into Sadie’s room and seeing her flash her gummy little smile with her two tiny bottom teeth sticking out puts me in a blissful place, and I love that I get to experience this natural little high every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. I couldn’t fathom how I’d ever love a second baby like I love Hadley, but Sadie makes it easy. That precious face knows how to take all my cares away. Both of their happy faces do.
Do you have any good parenting stories to share lately?! Would love to hear in the comments!
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo