Tag Archives: Moms

Introducing your kids to a new baby

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It’s hard to believe this was just 3 years ago! My little guy has gotten so big so fast. In a few short months we will be a family of 5! Fingers crossed Ryder handles baby #3 a little better than he did with Camden.😳

When I first brought Camden home from the hospital, if you were holding him, Ryder would just sit there and give you dirty looks. He would refuse to come near anyone that was holding Camden. He would actually tell me to put Camden down. He was not a fan. That first month was definitely one of the hardest I’d ever experienced. It broke my heart that Ryder had such a hard time.

Hopefully now that he’s been around Camden so long he understands that a new baby isn’t a “threat.” He’s so good with Camden now and even tries to share with him (sometimes).

I did screw up with Ryder in the beginning when I had Camden. I thought after Camden was born I needed to give Ryder a ton of attention to make up for the shared attention that was about to happen. People kept telling me Ryder was going to get jealous and would need a lot of individual attention. I shouldn’t have listened to them.

I had my mom spend a lot of time with Ryder as well thinking that individual attention was needed because of everyone’s comments. That actually made Ryders jealousy worse. When he actually did spend time around Camden and I, it was really bad. He just couldn’t handle it and would have melt downs and be extremely upset. What I should have done is let Ryder spend time around just me and Camden the minute I brought him home. I should have gotten him used to being around Camden right away so he could see he and baby will both get my attention. I think if I’d done that, it may have not taken so long for Ryder to adjust to Camden. By giving him too much individual attention, it’s what he expected all the time and wasn’t getting used to having to share.

Obviously now things are ok. We have our days where one kid needs more attention than the other. But for the most part they both understand they have to share moms attention and that they will both get the attention they need. I definitely learned a lot that first time around. I think I have the hang of it this second time. Fingers crossed!

Close to closing

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We are just 2 1/2 weeks from our closing date! We have waited 15 months for this day. It’s sort of strange to think it’s almost here. It actually doesn’t feel real yet. It’s going to be an incredibly surreal feeling to actually be handed the keys!

These video updates we have done are not only for my husband and I, but something fun for us to show the boys one day. We want to be able to show them how the house was built and the progression of it. I hope it’ll help them appreciate the house that much more. 💙

Pregnancy workout

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Im now a little over 5 months pregnant and I’m not supposed to do full on ab exercises. However, my doctor did encourage workouts that include some core! She said this will help with belly strain due to weight of baby as well as strength for labor! So I’m doing legs mixed with core. I haven’t used sliding discs in so long. They’re definitely harder to use when pregnant! I don’t have the stability I had pre baby.

For this workout I did 4 sets of 15 on each leg (30 total) for the toe point balance slides. 4 sets of 20 on each leg (40 total) for the mountain climbers. Then 4 sets of 15 on each leg (30 total) for the plank leg slides.

Food Aversions

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This third baby is taking a toll on my diet. I swear I can’t eat anything without getting nauseous. With my second baby I was sick for maybe a month and it went away. But this time around it’s stretching a lot longer.

Strangely enough, the only things that don’t make me sick are: Ice cream, a tortilla with peanut butter, avocado toast, milk, pizza, cheese and vanilla cheerios. You’d think milk products wouldn’t be easy on the stomach and would make me sick. But weirdly enough they don’t bother it!

One strange food aversion I’m having that I had with our second baby is with chicken. I can’t eat chicken cooked at someone’s house. It literally makes me start gagging. I can’t even cook it myself without feeling sick. But I can eat chicken from a restaurant! There’s something about the smell of it cooking in the house that makes me sick. Since I can’t smell the chicken being cooked in the restaurant, it doesn’t bother me.

The first three months I was really battling with food. But now I’ve found a few items I can eat regularly with no major issue. So every day, I eat pretty much the exact same thing. I actually don’t mind it much because I’m a creature of habit and love schedules. I’ve always had my meals planned out days in advance so I’m not doing too much different than my usual other than being limited on foods.

This is definitely proof that every pregnancy is different! I’m learning as I go with each one!

Powder Bath Design

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Currently one of my favorite rooms in the house…..a bathroom! 😂 We kept most of our bathroom designs very clean and simple. But in the downstairs powder bath I decided to go a little daring.

I saw this beautiful blue tile at the design center. It literally caught my eye the minute we walked in. I knew I had to have it somewhere in the house!

After I first chose the tile I went back and forth on it. I was afraid it was too dramatic. But I also loved it so much. After a bit of debate I decided to just leave it and pray for the best. I am SO glad I did! It turned out beautiful! I think it would have been a little too much for a large room, but it looks great in a small powder bath. I love it even more after the design assistant told us the tile is being retired and won’t be available after we get it. That means no one else can have this tile in their house!

This was one of those moments I’m glad I only second guessed my decision and didn’t actually change it! I’m already searching out wall decor and little accent items to put in there to bring out the blue of the tile! 💙

Embarrassing toddler moments

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The other day while out to eat with my husband and oldest child, I had to go to the bathroom. I got up to leave and of course our little guy wanted to go with me. I figured sure why not, maybe he’ll need to go too. When we got to the bathroom there was only one stall open. We took that stall and I heard people coming in after us. We chose a busy time for the bathroom apparently!

Right as I sat down to use the bathroom, my child yells out “poop mommy poop.” I just looked at him and laughed and said “no mommy doesn’t need to poop.” But it continued. He kept cheering me on telling me to poop! Then if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, he yells out “poop out your butt mommy.” Oh My God! Why child, why?!? But wait it gets better….he then yells out “you’re peeing! Good job mommy good job.” At this point I’m a bit embarrassed because I can only imagine what the women in the other stalls and in line are thinking, but I’m also laughing SO hard. We have been working on potty training with him, so we praise him when he uses the potty. So he was praising me for using the potty. It was hilarious, embarrassing and absolutely adorable.

As we walked out of the stall people either avoided eye contact with me or just gave me an awkward smile. That made me start to laugh again because I’m sure this is only the start of our embarrassing toddler moments. I can’t wait to see what else follows. (Note there is sarcasm in my voice when saying that last sentence!)

Counting to 3

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Ryder, my 3 year old, is in that rebellious toddler stage where he doesn’t want to do what he’s asked. He’s not overly mean about it or anything. He just ignores you and pretends like he never heard you. Even when you ask 10. So we have started doing the count to 3 method. It works every time. I will literally say 1 and he says “no no I’ll do it” or immediately begins doing what was asked of him. I don’t even have to count with my voice in a different tone. I just use my normal voice and he hops right to it like he knows it’s time to do what is asked of him.

But here’s the funny part…..I really have NO IDEA what happens if I ever get to 3. Literally no idea! He’s never gotten past 2. Every time I count I think to myself, omg please don’t let me get to 3 because I don’t know what to do next.

I know the day will come that he decides to push it and see what happens next. So I’ll definitely have to have a plan for when that happens. But for now I’m going to appreciate the fact that he does what’s asked of him before 2.

Potty training win

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Want to know what the biggest early parenting win is? (In my eyes that is)……When your child finally uses the potty!!

It sounds ridiculous to be making such a big deal of something like that. But when you’ve had to deal with diapers, it’s exciting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Even if that light may be super far away.

Diapers aren’t cheap and if your child is like mine, they go through SO many. My child drinks so much water during the day. I swear it seems like I change his diaper every couple minutes. Yes that’s a bit dramatic and I know it’s not that often. But if feels like it!

Potty training itself isn’t terribly difficult. I would say the most difficult part for me was getting my child to actually want to go in the potty. A regular toilet scared him. I think the size was a bit overwhelming. So I got him a little kids potty. He didn’t like that I had it in the bathroom at first because it was close to the big potty. So strangely enough I moved it into the living room and tucked it behind a chair so he had his privacy. That’s when he actually showed a little interest in it!

I started by letting him run around naked and just reminding him he didn’t have a diaper on so he needed to tell me when he had to go potty. The first two times he didn’t even tell me. He walked right over to the potty, sat down and went! After that we had a few accidents. He peed on the carpet twice while playing. However he did stop himself. He started peeing then was like omg I don’t have a diaper on. He stopped, told me, then went over and used the potty. While I don’t love that he peed on the carpet, it’s all a learning process so I didn’t get mad at him.

I’ve figured out if I put “big boy underwear” on him, he can tell the difference in the feel of that and a diaper. So he will tell me he needs to go potty if wearing underwear. However, if I put pull-ups on him, he uses the diaper not the potty. It’s almost like it’s done out of laziness. He doesn’t want to stop playing to use the potty so he’s like ok cool I have a diaper on I’ll use that. So lately if we are at home, I have him just wear underwear (and pants) so he gets used to the feel and using the potty becomes a habit!

He does get super excited about using the potty. He would tell me he needed to go then when he finished he would excitedly announce that he used the potty. It was super cute! He gets so proud of himself.

I know we aren’t 100% done with diapers. But we are past the starting line! That’s a success in my eyes!

Back in the red

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We are back in the Red in DFW. I don’t care what anyone says. I’m wearing a mask even when I workout. What inconvenience is it really to me? None. I put on clothes in the morning so a mask isn’t any different to me anymore.

I actually haven’t worn makeup since the masks requirement went into effect. With the exception of mascara of course but no actual face makeup. It’s been great! My skin has never looked so even toned and breakout free! I wash my face often or use face wipes. I also wash my mask regularly so that helps quite a bit to reduce any skin issues.

I really don’t mind wearing a mask even after the mask order is lifted. Honestly I’ve never gone this long without catching even just a cold! I credit that to the masks, over disinfecting and hand washing. I know masks are annoying to some but I’m one who doesn’t mind it. I’ll do whatever is going to keep my family and myself healthy! Better safe than sorry!

Scripture in the house

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We wrote a few scripture verses in different parts of our house. The entry, living room, kitchen, stairs, playroom, master, etc. They each relate to those specific parts of the house and our lives.

My handwriting sadly looks absolutely terrible as I was writing. You don’t realize how hard it is to write on unfinished floors till you get started! There was so much material and stuff stuck to it, even after I tried cleaning it, that made it hard to write on. I’m surprised you can even read half of what I wrote in some places!

We even let our 3 year old color on the floor a little so he could leave his mark in his room. He doesn’t quite understand it now but he enjoyed it.

When the house is done, you won’t see the scripture. The hardwood floors will cover it, but we’ll know it’s there. It’s sort of like God himself. You can’t see him, but you know he’s always there. It’s a great memory for us to have that writing there but secretly hidden. 🙏🏻

In the kitchen where the island will be