Disclaimer

Have you ever met these families where the mom looks perfect at all times and her children look perfect as well? Cameron has this Aunt that I have never seen look less than perfect. She had her last baby right after Max and when we went into the hospital to see her her hair was done, makeup on and she had the cutest sweats on. Even her brand new little baby had been changed from hospital attire to a cute new outfit and her hair was done with a bow in place. Her three little boys are the same way, always in the cutest clothes with their hair gelled perfectly. Why am I not this Woman? I have good days where I take the time and get my little family ready but most days I have my hair in a ponytail and sweats on (not cute sweats just a big baggy t-shirt and big baggy pants). My boys, well I really tried with them. I tried to do Brigham's hair so cute every day, but after having to do it ten time before you get in the car and then by the time you get him out it is already a mess, I just gave up. Thanks to my mother-in-law I have been able to dress them cute on most days, until now.


Brigham has now decided that he will be choosing what he wears. I tried to fight it by giving him choices of some cute things but no he will not have it. If I even suggest something it is automatically marked in his little brain as a definite NO. He especially hates long sleeves and long pants. I don't know what I am going to do when it is winter. So if you by chance run into me somewhere and you think my son looks like a little orphan boy, please don't think that we abuse him or don't take care of him. This is my disclaimer that now I am no longer willing to fight the battle with Brigham so what he is wearing is his choice. (Unless someone will tell me the secret of always being able to look perfect while at the same time keeping your boys looking perfect) Turn away or close your eyes if it is too ugly or better yet just do what I do and laugh.

I Failed!

Well it isn't the first time and it sure won't be the last time but Cameron told me I better get on here and admit my failure to everyone. Not even a week into taking Max's bottle away and Brigham's binki away they were back in their mouths. I always thought I was going to be this amazing Mom that would follow through with everything, but I'm finding out very quickly that short term sanity is sometimes much more appealing.

So here is how it started. Max has ear infections probably every other week and I finally convinced our Doctor to have his ears checked out by specialists to see if he needs tubes. I took Max and Brigham in for their well baby checkups and without knowing it Max had another ear infection. So that night I go to put Max to sleep but how can I let him just cry in pain? Cameron and I both came to the conclusion that as soon as we have his ears under control then we can worry about taking the bottle away.

Brigham, there is really no excuse, except for the fact that as soon as he realized that the binki wasn't coming back he would no longer sleep. No naps and no bedtime....nothing. This is the same kid that loves his sleep. Brigham would come to me and tell me it was time to take a nap or go to bed. He usually sleeps 11 hours at night (and probably more if Max didn't wake him up) and 2-3 hour naps during the day. Cameron and I came to the conclusion again that there is no place on a resume that asks when he got rid of his bink, and it comes right out after he falls asleep, so no harm in that right?

Well, I know I am a horrible Mother who can't follow through, but my kids are happy and that is the important thing, right?

My boys are growing up!

Today was a very sad day. It shouldn't have been though, I should be jumping for joy right now feeling very accomplished that I was able to achieve what I have been dreading for months. I took Brigham's binki away tonight and Max's bottle. Brigham only gets his binki when he takes a nap or goes to bed at night and Max only takes a bottle when he goes to bed at night so it was not like they couldn't function without these, but I wondered if they would be able to sleep without them. So I decided they would go "cold turkey" tonight, and guess what they are both sleeping safe and sound in their beds with very little opposition. So will somebody tell me why three hours later I am still feeling like an awful mother for doing this? I think dentists and pediatricians would be patting me on the back but I could care less.

I reasoned with Brigham telling him that we didn't have a binki to sleep with tonight and he looked up at me looking very puppy dogish (yes that's a word) and said "we find bink later Mom?" I told him no and said we had no more binkis for Brigham. He didn't put up a fight even though I could see the disappointment in his eyes. I think him being so good about it, even though he may not understand why, made me want to go back in his room and give it to him.

And then Max, obviously there is no reasoning with him at this age but he has been taking naps without the bottle for a while and I thought I might as well make a night of it and take it away. He cried for about 10 minutes in his crib and then fell asleep. Not bad, considering he usually cries for that long when I put him down for a nap during the day.

I guess what it boils down to is the fact that I can't stand the thought that they may be growing up.

Island Park

We had so much fun this last week in Island Park with family. Mike, Andrea and their to adorable kids are in town from Iowa and we were able to spend a few days with them. We had a great time.

Our little Max turned 1 up there and I think he had a great time with the new toys Grandma Ardene got him. But I have to admit that all the other kids enjoyed them just as much. Thanks to both of Max's Grandmas, we can feel their love so much.

The cabin is quite cozy when you get all of my family together there at one time, and because the family is going to continue to grow in size my parents are building a much larger cabin in Ashton to accommodate everyone. I have mixed feelings about the transition. I have grown up going to our cabin and I love it. There is just something special about it and the memories that we have there are priceless. At the same time when trying to put 5 babies down at night and no where to put them it becomes quite difficult and frustrating. I think I will love the new cabin but will really miss our cabin now. It will be bitter-sweet. The new cabin is scheduled to be done by Thanksgiving so I am assuming that may be the last time we go up to our cabin as an entire

family, how sad.

Semester 1 of PT School Complete

Cameron has completed his first semester of PT school and he did it with flying colors. He did very well in all of his classes and still had time to spare for his family. Cameron has got an incredible gift of being able to balance and prioritize life. Nonetheless we are very excited for these next two weeks he has off. We will be spending a week up in Island Park at my parents cabin.