Parenting Perfection

As a parent we've all been at the point where we'd like to pull our hair out from stress. The world we live in doesn't make being a parent any easier either. Between our own pressure of wanting our children to grow up with a life better than we did and the pressure to show others that we have it all under control, it's a wonder that more parents don't crack under the pressure.

Or maybe they do and I don't see it.

I really do think that my life was pretty well in control after Lane was born. Granted that could be because he was the.best.baby.ever. Not much fussing, ate fantastic and loved playing by himself. Fast forward to present day and I am pretty sure there's no possible way for anything else to be out of whack!

There are probably some parents that didn't feel a huge difference adding child #2 but I sure did. No way was I prepared for it either. As said before, the child mannerism could be a part of it. Evelyn is very high maintenance, hates being by herself at any point during the day, and has already had more sickness than most of my friends' children.

I remember one person telling me 'adding child 2 is a huge change but adding any more subsequent ones? Pieces of cake by then.' Otherwise not a single other person mentioned that fact. Maybe they did and I was oblivious to the dire message coming my direction.

Take head friends. ADDING KID 2 WILL TAKE IT'S TOLL ON YOUR SANITY (waistline, pocketbook, relationships, work, etc.)!!! If you ask me if we'll have a 3rd I will laugh at you and probably go home to cry while thinking 'I want one more but it might kill me'.

Within the last couple weeks I've been lucky to have conversations with a dear friend as well as my own mom. Where else to look for some advice than a single mom of 3 who works full time and a pretty special lady who raised 4 kids of her own. They listened as everything I have been struggling with came pouring out.

How will I ever finish a project off of the devil Pinterest, plan the best birthday parties, come up with fun Elf on the Shelf ideas, blah blah blah? So maybe some topics were deeper than that such as paying off debt, keeping a house semi-clean and going to work all while trying to save face to keep my husband and children happy!

 

At any rate, whether my stresses are superficial or more serious matters, my two conversations both had the same final message. Just let it go. Don't compare yourself to another family because you have no idea what is going on with them, their mom is probably ready to crack too. Choose 1 goal to accomplish. Quit thinking of things to change in your life and enjoy it!

 

Oh and Pinterest, Elf on the Shelf and over the top birthday parties are evil. I swear they are out to make me feel inadequate but guess who's probably buying an Elf on the Shelf this year?

Hurricane Widick

I can't believe that I am actually showing you pictures of what a disaster our house is! I'd love to tell you that Casa de Widick NEVER looks like this and it's completely a fluke. But I'd be lying out of every orfice of my body.

In all honesty, I used to be very good at keeping my living areas clean, although my mom would disagree about my bedroom growing up. Somehow clothes, clean or dirty, would find their way stashed underneath my bed, on top of the canopy, or shoved in the closet! Not quite sure how that happened (must've been the gremlins living in the closet). My roommates have ranged from OCD cleaners to complete slobs.

My current roommates tend to be a little on the dirty side and for some reason don't always pick up after themselves. One reason is that 2 of them are animals and 2 others are still in diapers so I'll try not to hold that against them. I was pretty good about staying on top of the cleaning when there was only one kid in the house but adding Evelyn has completely thrown me for a loop. It's gotten so that I don't clean because I have no idea where to start!! I'm about ready to hire someone to clean so I can start with a clean slate.

Last night I picked up the dirty clothes and blankets that were in the living room, bathroom and kitchen. Yes I said kitchen. Don't judge. You know it's bad when the husband says 'Wow I think there's a weeks worth of clothes in here.'

Maybe my problem is that everyone in the house has too many clothes. I think the new goal is to only keep 2 weeks worth of clothes for each person. Riiiiight.....like I'll be able to avoid buying clothes for the kids. In addition to my shopping obsession, Lane has a lot of clothes (for the next 4 years based on his growth schedule) because of a very, very generous family that has given us boxes of clothes. Thank you Adrienne!! And with Evelyn, I have bags and bags of clothes thanks to my amazing family in Texas. If we ever drove down again instead of flying, I'm sure they'd send back a couple more bags with us.

Recently, I have tried to implement a new idea in which I give myself one hour to clean after the kids go to bed. So far it's worked pretty well. At least the nights where I actually do it. I find myself wanting to spend more time with the kids instead of cleaning. But who can blame me with these two?

Another thing I need to get better at is organization. To me organization and looking clean go hand-in hand. A lot of times all it takes it organizing the mess to magically look clean again. While my husband thinks we are 'cramped', I feel 'cozy' and really do like where we live. Maybe it's the difference of houses/families we grew up with. Organization and decluttering will become a close friend of mine for the next couple years as we pay down debt in order to buy a larger home. Little does Mark know that buying a larger house gives me the leverage to have our 3rd and final kid, if I decide to go that route in a few years.

I hope that this post either makes you feel better about your house or even better.....we commiserate together about the messes we live in.

Sickness Infestation

Being a parent is the most exhausting, but rewarding, things I've ever done. I'm sure all you other parents agree. Granted part of that could be because we decided to have kids that are very close in age.

The past two weeks...actually the past winter/spring....has been more exhausting than the previous 18 months! I feel like we've been sick more than our fair share. Ev was born November 23rd and had her first cold at a week old and everything has been stacking on top of each other ever since.

• December
• Pink eye and 1st major ear infection for Lane
• January
• Lane spiked a fever and had what looked like golf balls on his neck (swollen lymph nodes) beginning of January. A Dr visit on a Monday thought it was strep throat so an antibiotic was prescribed since he still had ear infection

• Lane still had a high fever and came down with a rash all over his body so off to the Dr we went again. This time they diagnosed him with mononucleosis (mono). No oral antibiotics with mono so he had a shot that requires 3 series.
• Back to the Dr again on Friday for his 2nd shot.
• Back again the following Monday for the 3rd shot.
• Lane has a fever again and coughing a week later. Dr bound to be told he has brochitis and needs to take nebulizer treatments....on and an ear infection still



Next day and Evelyn is hospitalized with RSV. A bronchial virus where the air sacs shed their lining making if difficult to breath for little ones. We're here for 3 days.
 

• Ev is home the following week to recover and then I end up at home with pnuemonia & bronchitis for 3 days.
• Lane goes to the Dr again for an ear check up and do ya know..ear infection is still there. ENT specialist here we come.
• February
• 2 more Dr appointments for Lane to get ready for ear tubes.
• Ear tubes inserted for Lane.
• June
• Both kids come down with Salmonella and home sick for 2 weeks.

As you can see by my horrendous timeline of events, we're ready for a long healthy stretch. We aren't real sure how the kids came down with Salmonella but I'm just happy that everyone is back to their regular routine. Granted the kids are congested but I'll take that any day over some of the other stuff we've had recently.

Here's hoping that this finds your households are doing better than ours!

My Friday Favorites

I've decided to try and jump back into blogging again.....I'm just soo horrible at sitting down to do it. Which isn't a surprise because I barely have time to clean my house let alone write something.

In honor of trying to blog more often, I'm going to give you a look into some of my favorite things once and awhile. There are some other blogs I read that do the same things and I absolutely love seeing new things. So here we go.

1. Milkies. It might look a little wierd but I LOVE it. It fits on the boob your kid isn't latched on to and catches all the milk that comes out. Unfortunately I didn't know about it with Lane. It builds up your milk storage a lot faster and there's no extra work involved.

2. Rufflebutts. Having a little girl has opened my eyes to a huge world of headbands, hairbows and boutique clothes. This brand of clothes is absolutely the cutest thing ever. Quite pricey so it has inspired me to try and make my own. Keep an eye out for pictures in the future.

3. Carmel Apple Spice. I do not like coffee or anything coffee flavored for the most part but Starbucks has a Carmel Apple Spice drink that is to die for. I drank it quite a bit while pregnant with Evelyn. Here is a link for a copycat recipe that I'm going to try soon!

4. Chipotle. Now I know that they have a bad rap with some people with their 'responsibly raised' and 'Food with Integrity' programs. Personally I comend any company that trys to make the food we eater safer or try to use local ingredients when possible. It was in our best interest that Chipotle didn't open here until after I had Evelyn because I would've literally been there every week. Although, I did eat there about 4 times in the month it opened :)

5. VEISHEA. Most people that didn't attend Iowa State University have no idea what this is or what it stands for. For those of us that know what VEISHEA is....it's a blast and as we know from past years, can be quite the newsmaker. What can be bad about great food, a parade and the ability to go back and visit your alma mater. Don't forget the yummmmmmy cherry pies (be quick because they usually sell out) and being able to milk a cow.

 



I should get ready because Chipotle pick-up is waiting for me!