Playing catch up: Madelyn's Nursery

I love nurseries. They are so calming and peaceful and full of joy. Don't you think?

For Madelyn's, I decided I wanted to have a semi-Mary Poppins thing going on. I knew I needed to incorporate some of B's colors from his nursery (we definitely reused his bumper, chair, and skirt!) and would have to be creative with some furniture we already had.

Of course, I had to make a sign similar to Bradley's for our hospital room door. Funny story, though. The hospital was so over packed when I gave birth that they stuck us in the last room available. It was the size of a closet and had no hook on the door. Ha!

I found some great poster prints on Etsy. The one on the right says, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".

Don't you just love these wires for kid's artwork?? We have four of them in our house. This is all B's artwork from school this past Fall. He decided he wanted Baby to look at it all.

The penguin is awesome. It's Melissa and Doug. Every child who comes into my house will inevitably find the penguin and take it with them to play elsewhere. It's uncanny. The rug is pretty great too. It's an IKEA.

PS See how tall Miss M is?? This was taken this morning and this crib goes no lower. She better get her walking together because I'm afraid she's going to need to be moved to toddler bed sooner than B.

This mobile is sweet. We actually got it as a gift from Jeremy's aunt for Bradley. However, we couldn't really use it in any of his spaces. It goes wonderfully with Madelyn's nursery. Feed the birds is one of those eerie, but beautiful songs from Mary Poppins, right?

That print is my favorite from the posters I got on Etsy. The curtains are IKEA and I actually hacked them. It was a fun little afternoon project. :)

The dresser is my childhood dresser. It's so heavy and large and well made; we are never moving it from this spot.

The carousel scene in Mary Poppins is my favorite. It was always so colorful and fun. It also reminded me of the ones at my Grandmother's house that I would admire every visit. My Grandmother passed away two years ago and I knew that when I chose this theme I wanted to add one of her carousel's to the decor. I was beyond touched and excited when my Grandpa surprised me and mailed this one plus two more of hers for me to use. These bring back many great memories. I feel so honored to have them displayed in my home.
  

This print is fun. I had to show it. Let's go fly a kite!!

A friend of mine is a great graphic designer and an even better person to know. She's so sweet. She did the artwork above for me as a baby gift. My prayer is that Madelyn always knows who she is in Christ. I pray struggles over her view of self are so small compared to her constant reminders of the promises of who she truly is in the eyes of her Creator.

Remember the chest my dad did for Bradley?  Check out Madelyn's! It's gorgeous. The lid has a device that prevents it from being slammed on small fingers. This has been extremely useful with a big brother around. :)

Speaking of which - there he is! :)

The real deal

So this 3 year old thing is really kicking my butt. Most days I cry. Most days B cries. Most days I want to sell him. Most days he'd prefer to be around anyone but me (aka the Punisher). But we are in this stage for now and so most days we both just do the best we can with the grace we are given from God and spend the rest of the time praying for our hearts to continually be more and more like Jesus and less and less like the evil beings we both are.

Today was equally rough and really, really beautiful outside. For this reason, I decided that the Chick-fil-A drive thru was not enough and that we must enjoy the outdoors on its playground instead. Now, I have to admit that I have yet to take both my kids to a restaurant solo. It really sounds like torture to me and so I have avoided it. But today I was brave... and extremely ill prepared. I didn't have a diaper bag or extra snacks or cups or anything. It was me and the kids... no extras.

Both kids did great! B listened as we were in line. A cashier helped me with my tray. Miss M learned to drink from a straw and hold her own cup. B played well with the other kids and ate all his food. I was feeling pretty good. I decided that we should exchange our toys for ice cream cones!

As we were standing in line, I smelled something. "Oh, Miss M must have pooped. She can make it home to be changed," I thought. We were just 10 minutes from our house. But the smell grew. So I peeked. Thus revealing that my entire sleeve and her back were covered in poop. And we were still waiting for our ice cream. I had options. Walk away and have a meltdown by my 3 year old from.... or stay and endure the poop. Ladies and gentlemen, I endured that poop. I endured it while we got our ice cream. I endured it as B was stopped by at least 3 couples entering the restaurant who wanted to tell him how cute he was. I endured it all the way to the car.

Thankfully, I keep a small bag in my trunk of diapers, wipes, etc. So I got Bradley in the car with his ice cream and went to the trunk to handle Miss M. But the thing with blowouts is that you just kinda need to hose them off. Wiping and changing doesn't really cut it. But something had to happen. So I rolled up my poop sleeve and conquered her blow out the best I could. I got her naked and in a fresh diaper and buckled in her car seat for our 10 minute drive home.

Well, as we are about home I turn around to see Bradley covered head to toe in ice cream. "It melted, Mommy." No joke. Two baths it is... wait... I then notice that we had driven from Chick-fil-A to home without B being buckled in.... Yes, I will accept that Parenting of the Year award. Thank you....

Whew. I got both kids inside, in the bath, and clean in a matter of minutes. (I can be quick and efficient when necessary.. We were already an hour passed nap time.) I turn around to grab towels for my kids only to notice that there were none. Yes, it is laundry day. No, I haven't put a load in the wash yet. Yes, it is 2:00 p.m. So I do the only sensible thing. Grab Miss M, put her on the bath mat, leave B unattended in the draining bath water, and run like hell to grab some towels downstairs. You want to give me another Parenting of the Year award??? You are too much.. I could probably pull a great Taylor Swift shocked face impression after her 10th award. But I'll save that... the story continues.

I grabbed the towels and run back upstairs. Miss M is in the hallway dragging puddles of water. B is playing with the toys. The water is fully drained. I pick Miss M up in the towel and hand B his. (He should be able to dry himself off, right??) and head to Madelyn's room to put her in some clothes. When lo and behold the girl decides that pooping on me is not enough, but now she must pee all over me and her freshly clean body!

Guys, let me be really real with you. In moments like these you honestly can only do one thing.. Laugh. I burst into laughter. I couldn't believe it. There was no way I was giving her another bath. The water had drained. The boat had been returned to its basket. We were moving on with our naptime schedule. So I wiped her up, put her in clean clothes, and stuck her in the crib. Pee is sterile, right? (And, now, I'll give you that Taylor Swift impression.)

I got B out of the tub.. No, he can't dry himself off yet.. Ran downstairs to get his last pair of clean underwear (I promise I am starting laundry today!) and into his bed for nap.

And you thought you were a crappy parent. Ha!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean myself, my car, and our clothes....

Classy Lady in the Rain

I have studied Emily Post etiquette. I have watched enough Project Runway and What Not to Wear to dress myself in a decent manner. I have even picked up a few cute hairstyles from Pinterest along the way.

Yes, there are days when I feel pretty good about myself.

And then there comes the kids... and rain... to bring me back to reality.

...................................................................

There I was, in the rain, one baby on the hip, one son holding my hand, and one umbrella attempting to cover us all. The carpool lane was full. I had 50 feet to go to the car.

I opened up the preschool door telling myself we could do this. We could make that 50 feet with no incident. As the door slammed shut behind me I realized it did so right in the face of my unaware 3 year old. He yelped. I lost my breath and quickly turned around to apologize and check to see how much damage I'd done when a puddle... no joke... a puddle came out of no where throwing me, the baby, the son who I had just hit in the face with the door and who was still holding my hand tighter than ever, and the umbrella to the ground... right in front of the super long carpool lane.

So, now, I was mortified. I was mortified that I had slammed the door on my son. Mortified that I had fallen with all my kids attached. And mortified that the 'eyes' of the carpool lane were all there to see.

My only solace in this situation is that perhaps all those moms chose the carpool lane and that moment in time to check Facebook on their iPhones rather than watching me take out my kids.

Oi vey!

Look what we have!!!!

I am so proud of my little girl. By her expressions, I'd say she's pretty proud of herself too. :)