Tubby Time

…. that's what we call it at our house.  Bath time that is.  As moms of littles our days usually involve some "tubby time" at some point.  Whether it's daily or …. every other (every 3 sometimes, lets just be honest here) day you generally will end up elbows deep in soapy water scrubbing little ears and noses and hineys.  We usually bathe both kiddos in our tub because I'm lazy it's closer to every other night time routine downstairs (dinner, PAW Patrol/Baby Einsteins/insert TV show flavor of the month here/wrestling with daddy/jumping on the bed/etc, etc and so on and so forth) ...

Around the time that C had his febrile seizure (did I blog about that?  I feel like I didn't … it was on Valentine's Day, in Target, the Mister was on an airplane on his way home from a business trip, scariest thing I've experienced as a parent to date next to falling while I was holding N when he was 5 months old causing me to lose my hold on him and him to hit his head on the side walk … did I blog about that either?  Clearly I'm trying to block these things out …)  my sweet neighbor gave me a bag of relaxing shower gel and body scrub that I LOVED the smell of.  I noticed a few months ago while using the shower gel that it said "and bubble bath" and thought to myself "I need to make good use out of this "and bubble bath" eucalyptus goodness soon."   One Saturday night after the Mister and I had cooked dinner and he was watching sports (which was about to put me into a coma anyways) I decided to take advantage of my shower gel/bubble bath combo and have my own "tubby time".  And man am I glad I did.

Ladies, if you don't do this on a regular basis, can I suggest you do?  As moms we don't take a whole lot of time for ourselves.  I don't know if you're like I am but most nights, after talking to the Mister, I pretty much defer to sitting on the couch watching whatever I've DVR'ed and if it's an evening where I don't have something DVR'ed (heaven forbid … PANIC) then I resort to watching reruns of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens or The Office.  Now don't get me wrong.  I LOVE all four of those shows.  But I could also quote almost every episode ever made of each (really the King of Queens only because it was all that was on those late night breast feeding-a-thons when we were fresh at home with N).  Which clearly illustrates that it's not SUPER necessary that I watch EVERY. NIGHT.

When I finally took the time to take that bath, I sat there, bath full of bubbles, Enya on Pandora, candles lit all around me, big, full glass of Pinot Grigio within arms reach and I remembered … I remembered WHO I am.  Not that my sweet littles steal my identity.  That's not it at all.  But sometimes you get so caught up in "Are they tired/hungry/sick/teething?" "Am I doing enough/being a good mom/pointing them to Jesus/showing them how MUCH I love them?" "I need to clean my house/organize my closets/clean out the toy boxes/cook more/work out/text so-and-so back." and so on and so forth that you forget.  You forget who you were before you became "mommy".   You forget who you were as a woman, a friend and as a wife.  That's not to say that you are no longer these things because goodness knows I can't go a day without the support of the Mister and my girlfriends.  But those roles, and who you are in them have changed.

As I sat there an hour later, immersed by bubbles, glass of wine in hand with Orinoco Flow blaring on Pandora while my sweet littles fluttered off in dream land I felt so relaxed.  I prayed, I filled my mind with beautiful memories and hopeful thoughts of the future.  I asked the Lord to refresh me.  Renew me.  Restore me.  To make me ready.  Ready to take on the next day.  Ready for my sweet littles, the Mister and the demands of tomorrow.  And I felt an overwhelming sense of how blessed I am in this life I live.  Not to mention MAN did I sleep good!

I have now done this more times than I can count on both hands since the first time I did it.  And have wondered why I didn't do it more often before this.  As a mom of a 3 1/2 year old and 16 month old (boys no less) they can create little boy havoc and the house can look like a tornado faster than I just cleaned it up.  Add in my ever-shedding precious Labrador and I sometimes feel like I live in episode of Hoarders.  But after reading several "these moments are fleeting" blogs this week (and currently being fresh out of another heavenly "tubby time") I really want to make sure I put my best self forward.  For myself, the Mister and my family.  And I can't do that if I don't make enough time for myself.

So here's to "tubby time" mommas!  Go pour some bubbles in your bathtub and wine in your glass.  I promise you won't regret it.

new years. fiesta bowl.

These past few days have been fast and furious.  And SO. FUN.

We spent NYE with our neighbors.  Have I mentioned we have the best neighbors in the world?  Because seriously.  We do.  They have a son C's age that he has the equivalent of a toddler bromance going on with.  And they're so much fun.  And they live next door (maybe the neighbor detail made you catch on to that).  Did I mention they're awesome?

Anyways, we go over there all the time on the weekends but we have never hung out outside of our homes WITHOUT kiddos, dressed up (well the mommas anyway) while having a grown up meal.  And NYE was a perfect night to do it.

We were home by 11, watched the ball drop and passed out by 1 am which is actually WAY better than usual.  Usually we're lucky to make it until 11 to watch the ball drop in NY.

Apparently after you have two children you turn 80 and get narcolepsy. 

The next morning we woke up early and frantically ran around the house (think the "leaving for the airport" scene in Home Alone) to get the kids packed, the dog packed, ourselves packed and leave for Phoenix to go to the Fiesta Bowl.  

If you watched the game you know how it turned out but we had a blast cheering on our Baylor Bears regardless.  Could not be prouder to be a Baylor Bear.  PLUS it was our first time away from the kids in a different state.  I did okay but could not WAIT to get back to my babies.  It was definitely a good test run though.  

Happy New Year everyone, here's to remembering to write 2014 for the next 6 months!  

I'll get used to it just as we're about to celebrate New Year's next year.  

simply {had ourselves} a wonderful christmas time!

In the wake of my post Christmas depression.  Because yes, I'm still sad.  I thought I'd do another Christmas post and let you in on a little more of the Christmas cheer around here.

We introduced N to Christmas lights (and I think he loves them) ...

And had Icemaggedon … 

The Mister holding onto C for DEAR LIFE because that is NOT snow as it appears.  It's straight up, break your hip/arm/back crazy slippery ice.  

Hosted a fun Christmas girl's night (and apparently only took one picture???) ...

Took C on a Christmas train (i.e. MADE HIS WHOLE YEAR) ...

Reveled in the beauty of the Christmas tree (this is so my kid) ...

 Went to our family's hunting/fishing lease …

And got really, REALLY dirty … 

And followed daddy and Pops around in their camo … 

Had a family White Elephant party (note my cousin's AWESOME homemade tacky Christmas sweaters) … 

LET'S talk about how cute my Mamaw is … 

Took C on an even BIGGER Christmas train (i.e. made his whole last year AND this year) … 

Learned how to play guitar from our Uncle M ...

Made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve with daddy … 

Got ONE decent picture with lil bit … 

And one TYPICAL picture with the rest of my bits …

And that's about it folks, there was singing of Christmas carols, fires in the fireplace, stockings on the mantle and watching of Christmas movies.  Looking at lights, sitting by the light of the Christmas tree and baking of Christmas goodies.  There's a reason they say this is the most wonderful time of the year. Because it truly is.  Merry Christmas one final time friends, hope yours was magical as well!

merry christmas!

Can y'all tell I'm catching up?  I delete Facebook and BAM … 3 posts in a day.

Also my children are napping, so there's that …

But back to Christmas!  Is anyone else going through a post-Christmas depression?  Like I seriously think I may need some antidepressants this year.  Thank the Lord for XM radio and the fact that they play Christmas music all the way until the New Year and don't CUT it off like the local radio stations do the next day.  I can't go cold turkey Christmas people!!!!  I NEED TO WEAN OFF!!!

I have, do, always will LOVE and I mean L-O-V-E Christmas but it seems like it was even MORE magical this year now that C actually seemed to GET Christmas.  He was SO into Santa this year.  The two times we took him to see him he was overjoyed.  The first time?  He RAN (thank goodness there wasn't a line because I'm pretty sure he would've taken out any child/man/woman/reindeer in his path to get to him) and LEAPT into his lap, hugged him around the neck and said,

"HI Santa!  I'm so glad you're here!  I LOVE you!"

Y'all.  I almost cried.  To be honest I'm pretty sure I did a little bit.  I mean I couldn't have scripted it better.  Which was good considering this was last year's experience …

So when THIS happened (ignore his face in the first one, he wasn't thrilled that he had to stop talking to Santa to snap a picture) his year, this momma couldn't have been more thrilled (ahem, aside from little bit's reaction … here's to next year … or maybe the one after that …)

Now, can someone please tell me how to explain to a 3 year old that Christmas is over and Santa is gone and we have to stop singing Christmas carols and watching The Polar Express and Mickey's A Christmas Carol all day every day?  Because if I have to say any of those things out loud to him I may burst into tears.  

At least I have until New Year's to do so.  

Until then sweet boy, sing Jingle Bells all you want.  

{I'll post more about Christmas later - y'all didn't think that was ALL the pictures I took of the MOST wonderful time of the year did you?  For shame.}

family pictures!

I love family picture time.  My husband and children, however, act as if I'm pouring hot coals over them whilst clipping their toenails and force-feeding them lima beans.  I mean seriously.  What is so hard about dressing up nicely, acting like we like each other and smiling for 30 minutes.  THIRTY MINUTES!?!?!

Thankfully, EVERY TIME we get the edited images back my husband is glad we took them.  But for some reason he forgets this little tidbit of information EVERY YEAR when the time comes to have them done again?  I've decided it must be like pregnancy for a man, however in this case it works in the reverse.  They fight tooth and nail to do them, then love them once its done.  We fight tooth and nail to have babies, then swear after pregnancy and childbirth that we'll never do it again.  Only to forget 6 months later and begin longing for that "newborn phase" (and forgetting what 2 months of no sleep feels like).

Oh the human mind.

Anytangent, let's get to the point of this post.  It pretty much spells it out in the title.

It's all fun and games until your brother pushes you face first into the dead, scratchy grass and dirt after this seemly loving picture ...

Note the look of sheer terror on N's face ...

See how his little top lip looks a little puffy/funny/collagen-filled?   Well that's due to the face-full of aforementioned scratchy grass and dirt.  Thank goodness for photoshop.

Our photographer is amazing.  I swear she has some sort of magic over my children.  Because every year I'm convinced she couldn't have gotten one smile, in fact I'm almost POSITIVE I didn't see a single one from anyone (including myself) and then BOOM - she produces these.  Magic.  A magician I tell you.  Or she's giving them chocolate behind my back.  Either way I don't care how she does it as long as she gives me these kind of pictures every year.  And she has yet to disappoint.

Here's to family pictures 2014!  

Did anyone just hear the Mister groan?