Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Love Plants Roots

 

Taking care of a tiny human is one of the hardest tasks God ever gave us. I am in awe to think there are bad mothers out there because this responsibility, this blessing, is not something anyone should do lightly. Every single thing I do I wonder if I am furthering my child's future, if I am stimulating him, if I am doing something that will screw him up, if I talk to him enough, if I am making him have manners... etc, etc... And I'm not even one of those "crazy" parents that does every little thing in the perfect way. We let him stay up, we let him watch the lights on the television, we let him touch the cat and dog without a care in the world. We aren't perfect and we are okay with that.

I fell down the stairs last weekend at 4 AM with Walker. I just slipped down a few and he bobbled in my right arm. He started to cry so I was sure I gave him brain damage. We called the on call doctor and he told us babies are rubbery. I was scared I hit his head. He said he would have a bump if so. I watched his every breath. He seemed just fine. I was the one with bruising across my back and a bloody elbow. See, I am a very clumsy person on my own. Now I have a human to take care of and that's very scary!!! How do we keep them alive?

We make it look easy in photos. He's always smiling and laughing. Each morning when Walker wakes up he gets dressed and we snap some photos! It's just fun and he giggles and talks until he's tired of it then he gives me his mean voice and I know he's done. One day he will hate me for it! The photos aren't snapped when he's screaming and crying so loud none of us can hear! My kid is happy, but he is also very forceful when he is unhappy! We do our best and fix the issue, but we still have no clue what we are truly doing! Our parents seem like superheroes because we turned out okay! My mom snapped as many photos as possible with the instant cameras back in the day. The polaroids! She was just this perfect mother in my eyes. Dad says they felt the exact same way we do though so that gives me comfort to know we are on the right track.

So I as I sit by my son he is snoozing, probably one of his tiny 20 minute naps since he hates long naps, in his little bouncer. If you read articles they say bouncers suffocate babies if they aren't sitting in the correct position so I check him every few minutes. He sucks on his wubby pacifier which articles say will screw up his teeth. He seems pretty happy to me right now in this moment. It's hard and it takes a village. One thing we do know is Walker is surrounded by love. He might not see his grandparents weekly or get to see our best friends in Texas and their kids all of the time, but he is loved. They see him on social media, texts and even FaceTime. Neighbors buy him ornaments and cute little outfits just out of pure kindness. He gets kissed on cheeks on both sides by Nick and I. We stare at him, sing to him, make crazy noises, tell him funny stories and dance around just to see him laugh. He sure is one loved little kiddo.

So perfection is thrown out the door. We try, we fail. We know each thing we do is molding his tomorrow. Our parents are in their 50s and 60s still molding our tomorrows. We never grow out of it. Love is love. Love plants roots and grows no matter the age. That's all that matters.









Thursday, November 5, 2015

Monster Mash to Jingle Bells




Dancing to the Monster Mash as you hit the neighborhood with a pail made for candy seemed to make the night all too perfect. We had guests for the first part of Halloween day. Cody and Kristy spent Friday night with us so we got up to watch football on Saturday morning. Everyone had their coffee and hot chocolate and was ready for the day! What precious time as they are family to me.

 

 

Our neighbors brought over an adorable duck outfit and said Walker just had to wear it for Facebook photos! We took a few then all went to lunch! Getting ready was fun and crazy. Nick made me wear the other half of his Dumb and Dumber costume. It was so big! Needless to mention it was upper 70s outside so it was sure hot! Drawing whiskers on Walker was quite hilarious. He didn't enjoy the head of his lion costume! We headed out when everyone was ready and took the Rubios to the airport.

 

We went to Town Square where Town Scary was happening... it was scary, that's right... lines so loooonnnggg for one piece of candy at each place! Everyone kept stopping us admiring our costumes, but we were a bit annoyed. It was neat to people watch, but the lines and the heat just were too much for us. We decided the neighborhood was where to go!

 

 

Sad that most people don't trick or treat anymore. We decided to go to houses that were crazy decorated... and yes, we took the Halloween pail to fill with candy. We steal our child's candy... Everyone was so spirited and so much fun! There were mini haunted houses and hilarious characters at houses. We did the normal route we walk at night and even took the dog! He tried to eat people's rat decorations and annoyed people so not sure it was a good idea! We finally got back to our street where we know people. We wanted to show Walker off to our neighbors! He was good and alert for most of it... he slept through Town Scary... I would, too... We even got to meet some neighbors we never had! Everyone was so kind and just fun with their Halloween spirit.

 

So trick or treating is still alive a little if you do it right! We finally got back to the house to evaluate our candy stash. We sat down to watch Silence of the Lamb and Halloween 4 with our stash. Bad idea. Way too much intake of chocolate! We scared ourselves to the point of finally sleep. What a day! Christmas music was blaring in my house yesterday. Happens that fast. Boom, new season. We don't get to go anywhere Thanksgiving so let's just skip right into another spirited season! Monster Mash to Jingle Bells.