Mama of a preschooler

Oh the expectations a mama can pour on her child in public situations. I know my son, as his mother I would suspect I know him better than most anyone. I know his highs and his lows. I know how amazing his attitude can be, how hard he can make me laugh with his silly faces and his loving snuggles. I also know how repulsive his attitude can be, how frustrating he can be when he is in "one of his moods." How the poor dogs run and hide because he still has yet to discover the correct way to interact with them without being WAY too rough. I know how he ticks basically. So when I am out and about with him I do expect him to be on his BEST behavior. I want others to adore my child and see him through my eyes. But there are the times when he is anything but that "best behavior child." 

Lately with all these changes he has been acting out a lot more than normal. So you can understand why I would be a bit reluctant to get his daily reports from his preschool. I know his energy level is off the charts, even for a two year old. So today when I picked him up I took a few minutes to speak with his teacher. As I feared, his first two days were rough. His ability to keep his hands to himself out of sheer excitement and probably frustration were seriously lacking. While she promised he is improving and adhering to their rules, today he spent the majority of playtime in the "thinking chair" due to an altercation with another child over a toy. I could feel my face flush. I started spewing any excuse I could muster as to explain this horrid behavior that is NOT tolerated at home either. Attempting to assure the teacher that I was indeed a good mother and that we were raising him to not act that way. 

This wonderful teacher could see the frustration and embarrassment that was plastered all over my face. She took my hands, looked me straight in the eyes and declared that it was "okay." Every child goes through difficulties with major changes in their lives and that despite his behavior they are working through it and learning each other and that the LOVE him regardless. Her comforting words, touch, and look helped to calm my fears and it took everything I had not to just collapse in tears. 

Even with this though I still feel shame. I always declared I would be that mother who's child was just that angel. The one every teacher wanted in their class. That "dream child" you hear everyone describing. But Jaxon, well Jaxon has a strong personality, a quick temper like his mother, a stubborn attitude too. He has his daddy's energy level and LACK of attention span. But you know what else he has.. he has his mother's heart for others and his fathers athletic ability. I have to remind myself that EVERY child has their good days and bad. There is no "dream child." Beating myself up as a mother and feeling inadequate isn't the way to go about it at all.

I often wonder if Mary had this "terrible two" situation with Jesus. Can you imagine? He had to have been that "dream child." The one that never fought over bedtime, or refused to brush his hair.I wonder if she had the same fears as a mother of how he would be when in public or on his own without her personal supervision. Or did she do as God instructed and trust in her training, in her ability to be a parent based on the truth God instilled in her which she portrayed to Jesus. 

God said in His Word : 


"Train up a child in the way he should go;
 even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

And gosh darn it through all the tears and frustrations, I will train my child how he should be trained. That his hands are made for being kind, this mouth for speaking words of encouragement, and that his heart should be focused on loving the Lord first so then he can love others.  And most importantly, I must trust in God's decision to entrust Jaxon in my care. He knows what He is doing and I will continue to pray that He will use me to train my child through these hard times and changes that are happening in our lives. 

Where to even begin

Ever have one of those times when you need to catch someone up on your life but you have no clue where to even begin because everything has been so absolutely insane? Yep well this is absolutely one of those moments. Yes I fell off the face of the blogging world but only temporarily! Our family is going through some seriously stressful changes and priorities take over when I get into this stressed out mommy mode!

First my husband was injured while attempting to complete Officer Candidate School and thus dropped from the class and we returned to GA for him to heal and train for a future class, which we decided would be in October 2012 in order for his shins to heal properly and him to relearn out to run without reinjury. So all was set for us to do a simple move whenever he graduated OCS in December and we would be settled in Houston TX by January in order for him to start classes at the University of Houston and for Jaxon to be enrolled in a local preschool.

While registering for my FINAL semester as an undergraduate student at Liberty University, we discovered I was surprisingly pregnant with our second child! Overjoyed was not my initial reaction considering the confusion this would bring to our "plans." But in true God fashion, our plans are not always parallel to His all powerful plans. I was determined to complete these final few classes over the summer. Throw in a few stressers, we determined the due date, December 31st. With Alan's graduation from OCS falling in december we knew that Jaxon and I would be unable to stay in GA without adequate support in case this little guy decided to come early, not to mention attempting a move to TX with a two week old was just a little bit overwhelming for me! So the decision was made to pack ALL of our belongings into a large storage unit and take the necessities and move to North Carolina with my parents so I would have the support I needed as well as be close enough to Virginia to go see Alan on Libo weekends. 

Over the summer I did complete my classes, we DID pack stuff everything we owned into a small storage unit and we DID move in with my parents. Overtaking their beautiful home with a two year old and a dog and all of our "baby" necessities. Overtaking is probably an understatement. The impact this toddler has had on this normally quiet household has been exciting and challenging all at the same time. Jaxon has taken it in stride, I have had a few I am going to pull my hair out moments but I have accepted the mind set of "one obstacle at a time".. and let me tell you, it is all I can take.

So here we are, Jaxon is enrolled in a preschool two days a week. This is both for his behavior, socialization, education, and probably above all, my sanity. His deep desire to play with other children and his need to get rid of energy via play, made it an easy decision to enroll him a year early to set a firm foundation for when he does attend real preschool next year.

Jaxon's first day at his new school

And here I am, 6 months pregnant with our second child, a boy.. name to be disclosed upon his arrival! 

So where does that leave this blog? Well it leaves it still in the middle on the priority list. With a few hours of freedom each week, I plan to take back my sanity and blog until my heart is content. With a new desire to devote some energy and time into further progressing my hobby of photography (HOBBY.. definitely not profession), and as always COOK. Probably my favorite part of being at my parents house is their openness to new recipes and their ever honest opinions of anything I make. Pinterest has become an obsession of mine with regards to inspiring new creations as well as some pretty terrible failure.

With a new baby on the way, and the world's most adorable niece awaiting her aunts arrival in TX, I can promise there will be crafting involved in quite a few posts. As well as budget friendly posts regarding a new baby and everyday military life. 

Until next time, signing off as a soon to be mother of two

The newest Love of my Life

Ok so I am back.. and unfortunately this post is not from the great state of TX but I will leave that LONG story for another blog post.. but just know we are happy loved and blessed to be given the opportunities as well as the trials that God puts in our lives...

So when Alan and I first got married I was a complete and utter CLEAN FREAK.. I mean to the most degree... With our gift cards from our wedding I purchased MANY MANY organizational supplies. One of my absolute favorites was this :::

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Canopy-4-Bin-Sorter/15627364


Which I was head over heels for..Here is why... confessions #123242 on this blog... I am a laundry fanatic. My mom seems to think it skipped a generation and it is genetic. My grandmother will almost take the shirt off of your back to wash it. Well while I am not that bad, a full laundry basket drives me NUTS. Over these past 5 years of marriage to a (lets put this nicely) organizationally dysfunctional Marine , and one child later, I have loosened my grasp on keeping everything "perfect" in my household. This laundry sorter helped me within my daily life so much. I gave up doing laundry as soon as it hit the basket and decided to do it all one day a week, with the given few loads during the week in emergencies. While I would love to be that person who throws ALL laundry in at once (towels, jeans, darks, whites, delicates etc) I cannot stomach the thought of my husbands nasty uniforms against my bright whites... so I separate and this sorter would skip the step of having to sort BEFORE washing..This was all awesome ...

 UNTIL my husband leaned on it one day and bent one of the "sturdy metal rods"... haha what a joke.... From that day forward I struggled with pushing it because it had lost its sturdy frame and became flimsy..

So fast forward 4 year. Moving day (to this house we are living in now)... My husband decided to pack this thing down with random things from our room and "roll" it onto the truck... well it fell apart.. as did my heart. So I begged and pleaded and racked my brain as to what to do... I shopped and shopped and shopped. I did not want to get another sorter that would turn out as flimsy as this one had... But I could not stomach spending $50 + on something to "make my life easier."

Love the look.. but at $65.97 on amazon and No wheels
I couldn't bring myself to order it.

ps here are a few I was considering (with why I considered them)

cheap $15.90 on amazon.. but UGLY

So for the past 8 months I suffered.. I had laundry PILES all over our bedroom every Sunday afternoon waiting to be washed. My stomach churned every time I maneuvered my way through our room a mist the chaos that could be so easily solved by a laundry sorter.

My wonderful husband even went to Lowes to price out building one for me out of PVC pipe (as hideous as that would be I was desperate).. I even debated getting my grandfather to build me one of these awesome sorters from the every wonderful Ana Whites BRILLIANT blog.. but then decided against it considering the amount of times we move vs the bulkiness of the overall contraption.. and I LOVED the option of wheeling my laundry to the laundry room once a week to complete the huge chore.

http://ana-white.com/2012/03/plans/brook-laundry-basket-dresser-4-tall-and-lengthwise


Well I was at a loss... Until yesterday when this BEAUTY fell into my cart at target..

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE target.. I mean love is probably an understatement for the relationship I have with that store, and more importantly their clearance sections... This beauty is STURDY,,, it is functional (4 sections, darks, whites, delicates and heavy duty---ie towels, jeans, cammies)  and WHEELS.. real heavy duty wheels WITH brakes... I am in LOVE.. head over heels.. oh and BEST of all it was $34.. yep $34..I could SO handle that.. plus 5% off with my redcard!

SO TADA... Any mom's looking for some help with their laundry dilemma (or nightmare).. go to target.. grab one (or two or three) of these bad boys and set them up in your rooms, laundry room (for sorting before washing), your children's room (teach them to sort) etc... and Take the worry out of the laundry.. oh and J thinks it is super fun to help mommy push it to the laundry room

As for me.. I will be doing laundry in heaven today knowing that my job (housewife.. blah that sounds so boring and repulsive to me at the moment for some reason) will be a little easier

oh and before anyone asks.. these machines are wonderful... Maytag Bravos.. purchased before Jaxon's arrival while I was still working. They are one of our BEST investments and I am EXTREMELY protective over them.. as anyone who has attempted to use them without my "knowledge"...