Ten Things I've Learned Since Becoming a Mommy

Motherhood is a learning experience, everyday not only are our kids learning but we are right there in the trenches learning with them.  This is by no means an extensive list but it's my list of some things I've learned, so far, since becoming a mom!  ENJOY

1. Privacy is a thing of the past! Seriously, say goodbye to time to yourself, especially time in the bathroom. I can't remember the last time I went to the bathroom or got ready in the morning without an audience!

2. Your food is NOT your own! My 3 (almost 4) year old is just now finally learning to ask before taking things off my plate. However my 1 and 2 year old never seem to want what I've given them (even though it's the same as what I have just smaller pieces/portions) only what mommy has!

3. Everything takes twice as long as it did before! There is no more “I'm just going to run to the store for one thing!” The “running” part of that implies that it will be a quick trip, forget quick if you have to buckle and unbuckle kids into a cart, offer rides on the penny pony and argue with a toddler over why you really don't NEED whatever candy bar they have grabbed from the checkout isle.

4. What is sleep? I mean REAL sleep... this one goes in stages, as newborns you are up with them to feed them, as toddlers you are finding pacis, and with preschoolers you are up taking them potty and calming them after nightmares. Even when the kids (on a rare occasion) sleep all night you aren't sleeping soundly because you are just waiting for one of them to wake you up!

5. Date night? I vaguely remember what that is... not only do you have to find a babysitter, by the time you have found one that a)knows how to put diapers on the right way, b) is comfortable with newborns or multiple kids and c)is actually willing to give up a Friday night, chances are you are too exhausted to want to do dinner and a movie anyway.

6. Bath time is NOT for the faint of heart. As newborns this isn't so bad, but once you get toddlers, or more than one in the tub you might as well don a rain coat and galoshes because you are about to get wet, and I mean really really wet! This summer my children have learned what a cannonball is (at Papa's pool) so they do their best to recreate it in the bathtub!

7. Taking a shower everyday is a luxury. I mean really, if the people at Bath and Body Works expected us moms to actually shower every day, (not to mention where clothes NOT covered in spit up and other disgusting things) then they never would've invented pretty scented body spray!

8. The “volume” button on the remote control really does ONLY work for the TV. If yours are anything like mine, happy noises can quickly go from squealing and giggling to all out banshee screams in no time flat. Another word that has no meaning to children is “shhhh”, so save your breath.

9. Silence can be a good thing AND a bad thing. If the kids are all sleeping then great, enjoy the peace and quiet. However, if you sent your kids to the play room twenty minutes ago and you don't hear them fighting yet you may want to go check on them, chances are they have figured out how to unlock the closet and emptied all the shelves. If they haven't done that, check the back yard – did you know that even a 2 year old can figure out how to open a sliding glass door?!

10. Even with all the things listed above, having kids is the most rewarding thing you will ever experience. Who needs sleep, that's what coffee is for, and really, I think God gives us those sleepless moments to pray for our kids, what a great opportunity! With kids eating off your plate, you eat less, there goes that baby weight! :)  Plus, with all the water that lands on the floor during bath time, you have to mop half as often!

All I'm saying is this, will all the things that could be construed as negatives in the life of a mom, the blessings that happen each day when having kids far outweigh not being able to enjoy a hot shower every day. If you really do look at all these things as negatives you would spend your day in tears, so learn to see blessings in disguise, laugh at yourself when you can and most of all, love your kids!

So what's your list?  What's the "best thing" you've learned since becoming a mommy?

Our Week In Pictures - a day late!

Sleeping before we even finished the story

"Take my picture with my princess dolls!"

"you mean I have the tub all to myself?"

"whatever will I do with all this space?"

"the giant moth that has taken up residence on our front door"

we spent very minimal time outside this week as it was another hot one...

this pretty much sums up our mornings around here (minus Abram) - Amelia is slow to wake up, requires lots of snuggles.  Sophia is chattering and happy as soon as her eyes pop open!

The kids and I took a quick road trip this week

A big week for Abram, he's using a spoon all by himself (still working on getting all the food in his mouth but he does pretty good)

Daddy giving horsey rides

Abram's first time using a straw and already a pro - he sucked down that smoothy like nobody's business!

The girls playing!

Abram carried around this maraca all week... he's been driving his sisters and mommy nuts!

"they're seriously going to let me eat this all by myself?" (yogurt)

Grocery shopping!

Peacefully playing together *gasp*

Buddy boy's new trick - except he gets stuck and then gets terribly upset!

My project for the week, I made these travel coloring sets for the girls - (pinterest), perfect for the diaper bag, I'm thinking they'll come in handy in waiting rooms and the car!  Took me literally 10 minutes and I already had most of the supplies!

Let Me Set The Record Straight...

"I don't know how you handle it!"

For some reason I hear this a lot. Now that we are expecting our fourth I hear it even more than before. Yes our kids are close in age, yes they are busy, yes they create a lot of work for me, but that's just my life! I have no other choice but to “handle it!”

A lot of my friends have their children spaced 2 or more years apart (which is completely fine), and they seem amazed at how I manage to get things done with my kids so close in age. In truth, I handle it the same way they handle their kids who are 2 years apart! I don't know any differently, to me, this is the “norm,” I do it because I have to. And I am definitely NOT alone, I have an amazing husband who pitches in with everything from diapers to dishes, and our children are blessed to have wonderful grandparents who love to spend time with them! I know for a fact that I would NOT be able to make it through my days without the strength that God gives me.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Just let me set the record perfectly clear here, I am no better than the next mom. I have no super powers that enable me to get things done that other moms don't, and I certainly DO NOT have it all together. I lose my patience with my kids, I feel alone (a lot), and there are days when feelings of inadequacy are completely overwhelming. But it all comes back to the job God has given to me: I am first a wife to Tim, and secondly, a mommy to three (almost 4) amazing blessings. I don't think God would give me a special job, or a blessing just to see me fail. He gives me the strength I need to make it through my *sometimes very long* days and I am thankful that when I go to sleep each night I can rest assured that His mercies will be new when I wake up the next day.

When this picture was taken, Abram was a week old, Sophia was 15 months and Amelia was 2.5.  I remember thinking "how will I ever manage three kids, a house, a husband and keep some sanity?" But ya know what, it's a year later and we're all still alive and well, the house is a little messier, my sanity is somewhat questionable, but God has seen us through and will continue to every day!

So, the next time you think that because my kids are super close in age, I must have it all together, or have figured out some special secret to being super mom, think again. And if you come across the secret, please share with the rest of us!  Us mommy's have to stick together!

Yummy In My Tummy!

In an effort to break out of our "cereal for breakfast every morning" rut I made it my mission to find a few alternatives for breakfast.  For one, cereal is terribly expensive (especially when your kids start eating more than one bowl at a sitting, and it's a go to snack during pregnancy!), secondly, minus the milk it's not the healthiest or most filling option out there!

A couple of things that make cereal our go-to is that it's quick and easy, so when looking for new breakfast ideas those two things were priorities for me.  They needed to be something I could make the night before and pop in the oven in the morning, bake the night before or throw stuff together quickly in the morning - morning is our busiest time of day so getting the kids fed in a timely manner is pretty important.

So this week we tried five different recipes - some I've made before, some are new to us... we've decided to share them with you! (and of course I had lots of helpers in the kitchen)

Granola

So this is a very easy recipe that a friend shared with me, and although not new to us, I do forget to make it!

7-8 cups Old Fashioned Oats
Nuts (we use slivered almonds and shopped up walnuts)
Dried fruit (we use craisins but use your imagination)
Mix all together in a large bowl


In a sauce pan combine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
3/4 cup vegetable oil
some cinnamon
pinch of salt
dash of vanilla

Melt together and bring to a boil then remove from heat and pour over oat mixture, stir well to coat





 

 Line jelly roll pan with parchment paper (or grease well), spread mixture evenly, bake at 350 for 20 minutes stirring after 15.
Once cooled completely add chocolate chips if desired, store in air-tight container!  Either eat with milk, like cereal, or sprinkle over yogurt! YUM

Smoothies

 Again, really simple, and not new to us, I just forget that this is such an easy option for breakfast, lunch or just for a snack.

Start by cutting up whatever fruit you want... this time we used pineapple and strawberries!

About a cup or so of vanilla yogurt

Daddy even helped with this one, about a cup or so of orange juice (next time I'll freeze the juice for a while before making the smoothy)

Then, let your toddlers "gently" put the fruit into the blender... I say gently because I think I had to tell them that about 50 times and they still plopped them in and made a mess!  Oh well that's the fun of working in the kitchen!

Put the top on and then PLUG IN THE BLENDER (don't do it before putting the top on or you'll regret it, trust me on this) , turn the blender on, you'll have to do this more than once to make sure everyone gets a turn to push the buttons, blend until smooth!

 ENJOY!
I was hoping to add some spinach to our smoothies, but with all the hot weather we've had I couldn't find it at the market :(  So we'll do green smoothies another time!

Dutch Baby Minis

 My mom use to make dutch babies for us (or dutch pancakes), they are a fluffy, egg "pancake" I guess you would call it.  I've made them for the kids before but always used a cake pan, I stumbled upon a blog where a lady made them in a muffin tin - BRILLIANT! So we gave it a try, Sophia was my helper this time since she was the only one awake when I made these!

In a blender, combine:
1 cup milk                 1/2tsp salt
6 eggs                        1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

once that's mixed well add 1/4 cup melted butter
(slowly so the eggs don't scramble)

grease muffin tin well, fill each cup no more than 1/2 full.
bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown at 400degrees

While they're baking you can have your 2 year old set the table!

This is after taking them out of the oven, in the oven they puff up, probably 3 or 4 inches from the top of the pan "incredible" as Sophia said!

We've tried lots of different toppings, you can fill the wells of the "cupcakes" with different jams, or powdered sugar and fresh squeezed lemon, but we prefer whipped cream and strawberries!  This recipe makes 20 cupcakes, Amelia ate 3 and then asked for a bowl of yogurt because they were all gone! Will most definitely be making these again!  Super easy and yummy too!

Monkey Bread

 My mom use to make monkey bread for us when I was little, so I figured I'd introduce it to my own kids... there were mixed reviews. Sadly I didn't have any helpers this time, I made it before they got up, I think if I had let them help they may have actually liked it!

One loaf frozen bread dough - thaw but don't let rise, cut into chunks, roll in cinnamon and sugar, layer in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Sauce: 1 stick butter
1 cup not packed brown sugar
                                                      1 tsp vanilla
                                                      boil in microwave then pour over top
                                                      bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes

Tim and Abram inhaled most of the pan, Amelia tried one bite and made a very disgusted face (although the next day she asked me to make it again because she liked it so much) and Sophia wouldn't even try it :( 

Overnight Breakfast

 This is actually called Grove City Breakfast (we were visiting Grove City college when my mom got this recipe).  Pretty simple, assemble the night before and bake in the morning!
In a 9x13 pan layer:
6 slices of bread
ham slices, I used diced ham because that's what I had
swiss cheese slices, I used shredded mozz, and have also used mojack

Shredding the cheese was the girls' favorite part!

 In a sauce pan, melt 1 stick of butter and saute 1/2c chopped onion until tender
Add: 2 tsp garlic
        1/2tsp celery seed
        1/2tsp dill
        1 tsp basil
pour over bread,meat and cheese
then add 6 more slices of bread

Wisk together 3 cups milk and 6 eggs

 Pour milk and eggs over top of pan, make sure you cover all the bread,
this is what it looks like, now cover with foil and (carefully-or else the eggs will slop all over the inside of your fridge) put it in the fridge until morning!

 Bake for 45 minutes at 350 - until the bread starts to brown up!

I cut into ours right away and I should've let it set for a few minutes, all the cheesy goodness started to ooze out but it was still very yummy!  We all liked this one, and we had left overs, which were amazingly good cold!









So what do you have for breakfast?   After a week of "fancy" breakfast I will admit that I'm craving a plain ol' bowl of cheerios, but we will definitely be changing things up more often!

Our Week In Pictures

 Two very tired kiddos after a full week of swimming, and playing hard in the heat. (Sophia isn't pictured because I'm convinced she never sleeps!)

 Grandma and Papa have a plethora of dress-up clothes... however the  most loved are the suit of armor that they have.



















"show me your swords!"

Caught the boys watching the news early one morning

Horton Hears a Who - family movie night
check out the little monkey in the background!

Trying to fit the old couch in the dumpster, I think Tim secretly had a whole lot of fun tearing this apart...RIP big comfy couch.

Amelia's newest obsession - LEGOS!  We swiped mommy's old sets from Grandma's house and she's been playing with them all week!

Special buddys!

Amelia's first taste of corn on the cob!  

Little man enjoying some yummy pasta salad at our 4th of July celebration!

Abram's first taste of monkey bread!  YUM!

Fresh out of bed, too tired to eat breakfast but ready to color!

"I no feel good" Temp of 102 all day today, and I'm not talking about outside :(
(although unfortunately it has been that hot outside lately too)

28 weeks with baby #4 and feeling very very pregnant...













Next week, see what we've been working on in the kitchen!!!  Some yummy recipes to share!