My day
Friday morning The Man called me and asked me if I was going to get the ring I had been eyeballing for a couple weeks for Mother’s Day. He wanted to be sure I had a gift for my day.
By the way, I may or may not have said “I believe this is MY day!” a few times. I even stole my friend’s line and said “Happy MY day!” because it was.
I look forward to Mother’s Day every year. Although my family honors me more than just 1 day a year, it’s the 1 day that I can walk around and not only opt out of chores or dishes or cooking but also to really take time to appreciate being blessed like I have been. See, Mother’s Day isn’t totally about my being honored for being a good mom to my girls. It’s also a day I focus on BEING that mom to my girls and all that I have because I’m their mom.
I will admit that the kids tested my limits A LOT this week. Livie has been in a crying/whining phase out of nowhere and if I never heard her cry over us turning off one of her TV shows again, it’d be too soon. She also was sick earlier this week and after another trip to the doctor where I reassured the staff it’s not a coin lodged in her throat this time but something WAS wrong, her doctor found ear infections in both her ears and giving Livie her medicine has been less than fun. Top that with Hannah’s school project due, which by the way I think is lame for a project to be due the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL, and when I woke up yesterday I was relieved that it was in fact, MY day. I let my kids love on me. I accepted their home made cards and projects. I ordered the ring The Man asked me about, which by the way is fabulous.
I made sure I laughed a little harder at Hannah’s jokes. I cuddled Livie even though she cried a little too much for my liking. These girls are my gifts from God and they gave me the best present ever, which is being their mother. Everyone has different dreams in life, and while some women’s dreams don’t include being a mom, mine always did. I dreamt of it as a child, babying my Cabbage Patch Dolls as if they were real, live newborns. I knew how to change their diapers and rock them to sleep, giving light kisses to their plastic heads. I was destined to be a mother and on Mother’s Day every year I appreciate that gift a little extra.
My ring gets here in a few weeks and I can’t wait. I’ll look down at it and see their names and all 4 of our stones and I’ll be proud of what it stands for. I love our little family and it’s exactly what I prayed for…hard times and all.
Instagram block:
I’m @TheBecksB on there if you want to follow me!
Looking forward to another week of a little hectic, mixed with crazy, topped with smiles. So far, May is being good to us.
Hello May!
I realized with all the insanity that was my April that I totally forgot to mention that April 4th marked a year since I quit my job.
Best year of my life, might I add.
I only planned to really stay home from work through the summer so it’s been awesome to be off this long. By the time I start my new job at the church in the fall it would have been a year and a half of not working and that makes me happy. I wish I could stay home and not work forever but I enjoy doing things like eating and having AC in the summer so working part time with perfect hours will be just what we need.
And so it’s May and I’m happy. May is really when summer starts here for us. We don’t really have much of a spring or fall. It’s just summer and, like, kind of winter here. So summer is here and my thoughts have shifted to the beach and the pool and crawfish boils.
We’ve been cooking out the past couple months almost every Sunday. The Man grills steaks and we sit on the patio drinking beer and watching the kids play. I honestly can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I was just telling The Man as I sat out there yesterday that it’s going to be too hot soon to really enjoy sitting outside. Then I decided that actually, it’s already kind of too hot and that I dread our sauna of a summer here. Then again, last summer was the worst one Houston has seen since 1914 and I loved every second of it, disgustingly hot or not.
So I say yay to May and bring it, Mother Nature. I’m mostly sure I don’t care what kind of summer we have as long as the hurricanes stay away and the Sundays on the patio continue.
Even if our mosquitos are the size of pigeons and I sweat the second I walk out there.
So I DID make sure that I took some pictures this weekend because I’m a slacker and I hate it when I slack. I never regret taking photos. I do regret when I don’t. I am a self saboteur…I should just take pictures all the time so I won’t be mad at myself later.
I also should stop blogging random thoughts so much.
She looked so cute sitting there with that volleyball.
The moment quickly ended after I took these because she almost knocked down everything on our mantle. 3 year olds and volleyballs inside the house don’t mix, FYI.
But this? This is golden. She told me she wanted to watch The Princess and Frog upstairs after we turned on one of our shows downstairs. It was a little too quiet and I found her like this. As I’ve said before, I can never EVER have too many sleeping kid pictures.
Side note: I can’t take away her paci just yet. I realize that she’s 3 and it’s ridiculous that she has one…but she’s my baby y’all. And while I’m sure I’ll be mad at myself later when her dental bills are insane, I just can’t do it yet. I vowed to take it this summer before school starts because she’s already the only kid who has a paci still in school. And I will take it the same way I took her bottle and potty trained her. Baby steps…it’s the only way I can let go of her being my baby. My last baby.
Speaking of, something that kind of sucked but was mostly good that I did this weekend was give away my crib. We were given a crib when Hannah was born from The Man’s stepmom and Hannah never slept in it. When I was pregnant with Livie I was determined to eventually transition her to a crib unlike her older sister so my mother in law and step mother in law pitched in and got me a gorgeous crib. Then I had Livie and she was so tiny at 5 lbs 13 oz and I took one look at that crib and cried. I knew that it was going to stay beautiful and perfect because there was no way my tiny baby girl would ever sleep in it. She never did. In fact, she’s still in our bed. I don’t know why I thought that we would change our minds about co-sleeping since we did it with Hannah but we never did change our minds. 3 years later Livie is still in our bed and the crib is brand new. Finally someone I know is pregnant and needs a crib so on Saturday she came to get it. I won’t lie and say it didn’t make my heart ache just a little. I packed up the bedding and even threw in the infant seat because I don’t need that anymore either. We are sure we are done having kids. I like having just 2 kids and I look forward to family trips without diaper bags and bottles and babies. I look forward to moving on with our family life together, just the 4 of us. But, as most women can relate, making the final choice and doing something massive like giving away the crib, even though she never slept in it, is sad. It’s final.
The crib is gone and Livie’s room has toys where her crib was. She played in it all weekend. “I love my room!!” she said. Yup, we are moving right along.
Instagram block:
I’m @TheBecksB on there if you want to follow me!
Hannah gets out of school in 3 weeks. Livie’s last week is next week. All of us are looking forward to beach days and pool days and I can’t believe that it’s already about to be my second summer off work and home doing fun things with the kids all summer.
Happy May!
It goes a little something like this
Since the norm lately has been a little good, then a little MORE bad, then more good the week/weekend I had followed suit.
I can’t complain because at the end of the day we are all happy and healthy and that’s all I can say I really want out of life.
Right now anyway.
A couple weeks ago Mr. Mans’ mom told me she would be working 5 days a week compared to the 3 she does now and she felt that she needed to put the baby in daycare because that’d be a lot for me to take on. I’m ok with this because the week before she told me this I got a job with our church working the Mother’s Day Out program with the 1 year olds. It’s a blessing in disguise how things work because I mulled over how I would tell his mom and I knew I would offer to take him with me but now it all works out perfectly. I will miss having him, of course. I mean, look at this face.
But 5 days a week all day IS a lot for me to take on especially in the summer when both of my girls are home every day ALL day too. I’ll be working 2 days a week in the summer at the church and then 4 days a week in the fall. I am grateful because the hours are 9-2 which is perfect for me to be able to take Hannah to school still in the morning and Livie will continue to go there as she did this year. Then we get off in time to get back here at home to wait on Hannah’s bus. The best part is I’ll be working in the same class as my mother in law. It couldn’t have been wrapped up more perfectly for me. I’m very thankful. Plus Mr. Mans and I will have future play dates because he’s so sweet. And look! He’s walking now!
A little bad mixed into to stir things up like our fridge is dying and we probably need to get a new one. Not easily done on one income. We’re trying to get every last drop out of that thing before we have to cave and get a new one.
But if I could come up with a perfect weekend at home, it’d go a little something like this.
83 degrees under clear, sunny skies. No humidity. Steaks on the grill. Homemade salsa. Bud Light Lime. The kids playing in the sprinklers.
I seriously could not have asked for a more perfect day at home. The weather was awesome and when awesome weather calls, we answer. That patio we put in was the best investment we made last year. We sat outside all day under the umbrella sipping on beers and talking while the girls ran around and played.
It even made me forget about the fridge for a few hours.
Instagram block:
I’m @TheBecksB if you want to follow my addiction.
Today I am home alone while my girls are at school. I’ve spent hours cleaning and folding laundry, but made sure to set aside time to write a little bit. My stomach is growling. It’s time for lunch and Water for Elephants waits for me on my DVR.
Happy Tuesday.
Rainbowy
So, I have to confess that I was feeling rather uninspired to blog today. Yesterday I thought to myself that I would because I’ve edited a lot of good pictures lately and I wanted to share them with you all here. I also realized that it had been almost a week since I blogged last which is unlike me. But when I finally got the time today I sat in front of this computer and sighed. My mind was on a book I wanted to read and a few TV shows I wanted to watch on my DVR. I scolded myself though because I know me well and I knew that once I sat and got the pictures together that I wanted to blog inspiration would smack me in the face like it always does.
So here I am.
HI!
For about 2.5 years now the caption under my blog title has read “Trying to capture life’s rainbows and unicorns.” Most of the time this is so true of me. I may not always say it out loud but when bad things happen I sit there and try to find a silver lining…ANY silver lining…that’ll make it better. Or at least help me handle it better. Move the mountain or move yourself, right? For a better part of my life it was always me moving myself. For the past few years it’s been the mountains bowing out of my way.
I am so grateful for that.
We all have our bad days, yes. Of course we do. But the good days? They outweight the bad by bucketfuls. So when I sat here thinking I didn’t want to blog I knew that the proverbial rainbow and unicorn would appear with each picture that I edited because…well, just look.
My mother in law gave me her camera to get the pictures from their trip off of it. After I looked at them all, I texted her and told her “Y’all are the best grandparents ever.” With each click I smiled bigger and bigger and I found myself saying “Awwww” out loud a few times. My girls are so blessed to have amazing grandparents that do this for them. I mean, they came home happy and talked endlessly for days about how much fun they had. Livie told me for days that she wanted to go back to the lake to ride her pony. I just didn’t know HOW much fun they really had until I looked through the pictures. And so see? This is why I take so many photos. Whether it’s to remember a fantastic trip or to help The Man’s cousin out when she texts me at 10 at night that she needs pictures of her daughter for school and within minutes I was emailing her 10 pictures of her baby…it’s important to me. I was glad my mother in law took those pictures because now I have the memory of it also just as my girls do.
The day they got home looked like this.
They spent days together and didn’t have enough.
This is what I pictured that night years ago when Hannah literally got on her knees at the window in our bedroom and looked up to the sky and begged God to put a baby in her mama’s belly and please make it a girl. I’m pretty sure it’s what God pictured too when he gave her her wish.
If that wasn’t rainbowy enough for you, there’s this.
I said it last week and I meant it. The bluebonnets are kind of a big deal here in Texas and because they’re only out for like a month you have to get pictures at the exact right time or else you’re out of luck. This year Hannah alerted me to the fact that she wasn’t interested in taking bluebonnet pictures and if I made her she would “make faces.” Instead of arguing with her and making her go when I knew we’d argue and it’d ruin the picture perfect image of what I originally imagined of my girls posed perfectly in the flowers, I told her that was fine. Pre-teen angst is no joke y’all. Pick your battles…that’s my motto. So I took Livie out there alone. I will admit that the perfectness wasn’t there either as I imagined because once she saw a grasshopper she lost it and well…we only got a few good pictures with the help of bribery of chocolate if she would be good.
Bribery is my friend. Bribery worked for Hannah. Bribery works for Livie.
Then I snapped this gem. It’s my favorite of the day and since taking it it’s become my phone, iPad, and Facebook wallpaper.
All that was missing was a rainbow over her head. Then again, I see it even if no one else does.
I got her the king sized Hershey bar immediately after.
Instagram block:
I’m @TheBecksB on there if you want to follow my addiction.
In wrapping up this post I realize that this was exactly what I needed right now today. Still loving love, by the way. This post was the cherry on top. Soak up the good to the last drop and when the bad comes know that good is just around the corner.
This weekend I loved…
Watching Livie eat ice cream. A simple thing, yes. But she loves her ice cream and there’s something about her face when she’s eating it that gets me every time. And after our whole hospital ordeal…well I appreciate anything that makes her smile a little more than before.
Watching my girls play together. Lately it’s hit or miss with them but I spotted them out back talking and I didn’t want to interrupt the moment so I shot these through my kitchen window.
Watching Livie’s newly perfected hobby: hanging off the chairs in the living room. I’ve told her 100 times that she’s going to fall and get hurt and all her obstinate “NO!”‘s have paid off. She’s mastered it and now I don’t worry about her doing it…that much.
Seeing her excitement when one of my best friends from Ohio, Auntie Mo, sends her a new tutu and bow. She still has it on today, 24 hours later.
Instagram break!
Today I’m loving a boring, mundane, perfect day at home.
Still in love with her profile and her serious face, by the way. Actually, I’m just in love with her face. Period.
Progress has been made on the planning her party front too. The theme has been picked (Repunzel/Tangled) and the shirt I’m having made for her will be ready tomorrow. The rest is on a big to do list in my phone and slowly I’ll tackle it this week. Have a good week.
It’s Livie’s last one to be 2. We are gonna soak it up!
Monday random
Before I start the random photo awesomeness that was our weekend I have to point out that all day today I’ve been saying to myself “It’s been 1 week since the hospital. 1 week since I was told my baby needed surgery. 1 week since that nightmare.” I can’t help it. I’m always thinking in “it’s been 1 week…it’s been 1 month..it’s been 3 years since…” time frames. It’s programmed in me. I hate it and yet I do it with good times and bad. Anyway, it’s been 1 week since last Monday which was the worst day we’ve had in 7 years.
Also, we cleaned out our garage all day Saturday. It took 7 hours but I can now park my car in there which is pretty much amazing considering we could barely walk through it before. Side note: I hate cleaning garages. I also think my husband is a bit of a hoarder. I told him I was going to say that about him from now on and I’m pretty sure he rolled his eyes at me and shot me “that” look. Needless to say, it took all day and when we were done it felt awesome.
So the girls kept each other occupied while we took on that task and every now and then I’d take a break to take pictures of them. Hannah did her usual dodge the camera move when she could and sadly Livie usually follows suit. I couldn’t help but follow her around though in hopes of getting good pictures of her because after the whole ordeal last week I just want a million pictures of her smiling and happy…the way she usually is.
It’s like she knew…and she delivered.
We went to a birthday party yesterday and the goody bags had bubbles in them. My girls are freaks for bubbles. I try not to buy them often because we have to go outside and we get all sticky and there’s usually a giant mess. I need to get over that though because when they’re blowing bubbles they’re so happy.
A couple pics I had to pull out from my Instagram collage because they’re fab.
My Casetagram case has finally arrived after a LONG 4 week wait. I love it. It’s awesome and I get to look at the people I love the most all day. Can’t beat it.
Y’all know I am a freak over coffee mugs. I like them oversized and with lips on them instead of a flat edge on top. I currently only have a couple mugs like this and only 1 I really use. I saw these today while grocery shopping and I had to buy them. Now I have 3 mugs I love and tomorrow morning I’ll have some decisions to make over which one I should use. Trust me. That IS a tough choice.
Instagram awesomeness:
The weekend was great and came through the way I needed it to. Thinking this week may be more of the same.
Smile
I can hardly believe it’s Friday finally after the week started for us. Livie perked up the second we got home and has been on an upward spiral since then. It’s made me the happiest I’ve been in a long time. Seeing your kids sick is awful enough but seeing them hooked up to IVs and their scared eyes begging you to take them away from it all is the worst. Seeing her happy and playing is what makes me happiest today.
She smiled once when we were at the hospital and at that moment I thought to myself that I kind of take for granted how often my girls smile and how much I miss it when I don’t see it.
It’s my daily fuel. I need to see them smile. I hate to see them sad. Her smile with sunlight behind it…very appropriate for how much happiness is radiating from her right now.
I showed her the Xray and showed her the coin and I asked her if she remembered eating a coin at Nana’s house. Her reply? “I puked.”
Clearly she remembers it all and connected the dots. I’m hopeful that she won’t ever do it again.
A mini Instagram holla:
I’m @becks_b on IG if you want to follow me!
Last Friday I said that I knew the weekend was going to be great. Turns out it sucked majorly. Today I will say it again because this time I KNOW it will be.
A truly happy Friday. Sending some of ours to you.
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