Kids will be kids, but what about the parents???.....

     So, we have all seen it....naughty kids. You have them, I have them, she has them, all kids are a little naughty at some point. But kids will be kids, what is the parents' excuse?! I am so tired of seeing kids act inappropriately and a lazy parent who does nothing about it. No I am not talking about any of you :) Whether at my job, at the mall, or at Kaleb's basketball game, I see it almost every day. Like I said, all kids are naughty at some point. Kaleb and Ella both (yes, even Ella) have their moments, but I do not let it slide. If they do something wrong I (or Brandon) address it right away. They dont' know any better if no one tells them.
    At swim class last week Kaleb was playing before his lessons began. Him and another boy were at a train table. Kaleb had two trains and Boy #1 had two trains. Boy #2 walks over and says, "can I play?" Kaleb hands him a train and they are all playing happily. Boy #3 walks over and says, "can I play too?" Boy #1 looks at Kaleb and says, "you need to share with him". Kaleb looked over at me like, "what the heck?!" He had one train and Boy #1 had two. This kid kept telling Kaleb to be nice and share and the new boy was getting upset because no one would give him a train. I looked around, whose this kid's Mom? I walked over and told him that he needed to share, that he had two trains and that it was only fair. He told me no way and started playing again. Little shit! Boy #3 goes running cryign to his mother, who had no clue what was going on as she was deep in a gossipy conversation. And what do you know, it ended up being Boy#1's little brother!! Mom was not watching either of them. This kid was naughty then and continued to be but she did not say one word. Poor kid, its not his fault he is a gerk, his mom doesn't correct him ;) Not a major event but just the one most recent in my mind. I have a million examples, the girls who stole Kaleb's toy at the pool last week, the little girl who kept running onto the basketball court at Kaleb's game (the WHOLE game!), the little girl who pushed Kaleb on the playground at the mall for no reason, or the little boy who kept talking things out of my nursing bag despite me telling him no. All mom or dad need to do is correct them! Ahhhh! Of course they will be naughty again but at least acknowledge it.
  Just my little rant for the day :) I have to get it off my chest or I'm going to end up telling off a mom who doesn't watch her kids ;)
   On another note, my kids have been super lovey to me lately. I don't know what it is, maybe the approaching Valentine's Day, the warm weather? Ella out of nowhere just keeps saying, "I love you soooo much!" in her cute squeaky voice. Kaleb told me at bed tonight, "I am just so happy that you have me mom. I love you to the moon and back." Melting my heart. Come to think of it, maybe its just that they know I need some I Love You's after all of the nit-picking they have been doing to each other :) I am sure all brothers and sisters have this love--dislike relationship. First thing in the morning they give each other hugs and kisses and Kaleb even calls her sweetie, she calls him pumpkin. But then the nit-picking starts. Dont' look at me, that's mine, don't sit by me, you're gonna have a time out, MOOOOOOM!!!  On one hand I actually love to hear them argue, another thing that I never thought would be able to happen. But, sometimes its enough to drive a mom crazy :) I say, "That's enough" so many times that Ella will say the phrase sometimes when she wants people to stop something. But, at least at the end of the day they love each other again. Kaleb kisses her and says, "Goodnight, sweetie" and Ella hugs him and says, "Goodnight pumpkin." Thankful for my little blessing, even if they do get a little mouthy :)

So BIG!....

Every once in awhile I look at the kids and it just hits me like a ton of bricks and I think, "When did they get sooo BIG?!" Maybe it happens more than every once in awhile though :) It will be at random times too. We may be playing, making dinner, or getting ready for bed and all of the sudden I think, "WOW!" They look 2 inches taller!! When did that happen?!
Kaleb is huge! He is just 4 yrs old and looks like a 6 yr old to me. He fell asleep in the car tonight on the way home and I had to carry him in. I laid him down on his bed and I had one of those moments. He was hanging off of the bed as I took of his big shoes. Uhhh, where did the time go? He also seems so old because of the conversations we have :) Today in the car he was looking out the window and says,
Kaleb: Mom, I wish I could fly someday
Me: Like a bird flies or in a plane?
Kaleb: Umm, like in a plane.
Me: Well, did you know that you can do that when you grow up if you want to?
Kaleb: I can ?!
Me: Sure you can. You can go to school, learn a lot, and do really good. Then you can go to a pilot school and learn to fly planes.
Kaleb: (silent)
Me: You just have to work hard and be a good boy and you can do it....Kaleb, isn't that exciting?
Kaleb: Uhhh, mom I was just wishing.
Me: Well, buddy, I'm just saying that you can make your wishes come true if you want to.
Kaleb: O..K...Mom. (as he eye rolls me in the rearview mirror)
LOL, I think that the hard work and being a good boy changed his mind :) Hehehe. Also, I think that my little pep talks are sometimes annoying. But, I don't care. I'm going to keep giving them, that's part of my job description :)
Ella is turning into such a little girl every day. She insists on picking out her clothes every morning and tells me how she wants me to do her hair. If I want something different, forget it! :) She is so sweet yet sassy at the same time. I was so used to her being itty bitty that now that she is gaining weight, it seems like so much to me. She is actually getting some chunk back in her thighs! I always tell her that I am hungry and ask her if she has any chicken for me. She laughs and tells me to eat her chicken legs....and wings :) Plus as she gets older she is discovering ways to use her body that she didn't know before. Recently she has been moving her legs around so much more. They are still super floppy and there is no way that she could ever put weight on them but regardless, she is moving them. I will post a video soon! My mom and dad watched them tonight and the videos actually made my Mom cry, got me teary too. It is so amazing getting to watch her grow along side her brother. From thinking that we would never see any of this to living it every day is such a blessing :)
Thought for the day: Enjoy your babies every moment you can, they grow WAY too fast!!

Momma Bear was ready to go....

I have to admit, when it comes to my babies I am a total Momma Bear. You hurt my kids, I hurt you :) Little kids who take toys from them drive me nuts, doctors who don't know their stuff make me want to scream, and although I try not to spoil them, I secretly want to give them every little thing they ask for. I just have this instinct to protect them and make sure that they are never wronged. And that brings me to tonight.....
We decided to go out for a family dinner as Brandon has to travel for work and we won't see him for a couple of days. As we pulled up, there were no parking spots for us. I scanned the cars and all of the cars but one had handicapped stickers. Brandon jumped out to put our name in and when he got back in I asked if there was one in the car's window I couldn't see. He quickly said, "ya, there's one in there." I had to get the kids out in the front of the restaurant and then let Brandon go park. I walked over to the car and what do you know? Nothing. Some gerk parked in a handicapped spot who didn't need it!! My Momma Bear instincts immediately kicked in and I wanted blood (so to speak ;D ) But, before I went table to table to find the offender, Brandon talked me down a bit. I brought it up a few times and I REALLY wanted to wait out by their car so that we could have a few words. He told me that although it was annoying that it really wasn't worth being upset over. I calmed down and decided to enjoy our dinner :) Towards the end of dinner the manager stopped at our table and asked how everything was....my mouth was half open and I was ready to spill it. But, I glanced over at Brandon and thought, "why bother, it's family time". I said, "Everything has been great, thank you." He walked away and Brandon smiled at me and said, "Thanks".
Momma Bear was raging inside of me but I was able to contain myself :) Yay, me. But, let me warn everyone. The next time I see someone park in a handicapped spot who shouldn't be there, it may be a different story. My baby has a wheelchair and a ramp and she deserves a spot! :)

(also a new post on Ella's caringbridge site....www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellapeters)

Gotta share this....

Ok, 12:37 am an third post in a row ;) I know, I know! I just forgot to share this cute pic. On Monday after work it was decently nice out and we all bundled up and went for a walk to the park. We all had a blast in the slides and Ella kept instructing us where to carry her next ;) Kaleb mastered the fire pole and even Gage (our dog) went down the slide. All of my loves....

In between calculating calories....

I needed a little break from Ella's diet and made her a quick new hair pretty!!

Nutrition, what a job!!

    So, in our SMA community there has been a recent website launch on a diet that a lot of us use for our children. I was asked to share Ella's diet with them for an example. But, you know me, super perfectionist that I try to be, I had to check it over again before sharing. Thank God that I did! I fixed up Ella's diet again and then it got me thinking about her labs that were drawn before her surgery in November. I dug them out of a pile of papers and looked at them and instantly felt like a sub-par Momma :/ Yikes, she had several low numbers that I totally spaced off on. I was pretty busy with things after her surgery but still, so mad at myself for not looking at them again. I just finished ordering about 6 new things to add into her daily mix and asked the Dr for a prescription too. I love it though how I get settled and think I have everything under control and then rather than actually paying attention to my 'To Do' list, God just smacks me upside the head and MAKES take care of something. Glad He is on my side and watching over things :) All of this work on Ella's diet starts to get me feeling bad that I don't work on Kaleb's. I know, he doesn't have the complex needs that she does but really, how nutritious is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a giant bowl of noodles, and a big helping of jellied cranberries? :) Could be worse I suppose.  I give him a vitamin and some Omega 3s too so that makes me feel a little better.
    Ok, is it just me or is the worst part of being the Mommy having to worry about feeding everyone?! I absolutely hate having to figure out what to make for meals, especially dinner. I ask my husband, "What do you want for dinner honey?" What does he say? "Whatever you want to make is fine." What?! I know that he thinks that he is being helpful by wanting to eat anything but that is by far the most irritating answer. Am I wrong? :) Most of the time I end up making at least two different things, one for us and one for the kids, or one that Kaleb and us eat and something else for Ella. But, twice in the last month an amazing thing happened. I don't know if it was the moon lining up just so, or that we had extra angels in the house that night, or that perhaps I was dreaming and that it didn't really happen but the whole family ate ONE thing! Seriously, I felt like when it was happening that it had to be a dream! Once, it was homemade chicken pot pie and the other time it was breaded pork tenderloins, both with rolls, mashed potatoes, and extra noodles for Ella. Everyone sat there nicely, told me it was great, ate everything on their plates, asked for more, AND said Thank YOU Mom! Oh, the little things in life. Everyone eating the same dinner, ten years ago I never would have thought that that would bring me so much joy! :) LOL.

Mom, I gotta tell ya....

  I walked into Ella's room to change her diaper this afternoon. I was in there maybe 5 minutes total after changing her and giving her ample amounts of belly kisses. I walk into the living room and Kaleb says, "Mom, I gotta tell ya. I spilled watermelon....and A LOT of it. But, here's the good news, I cleaned it up." What?! Where?! When?! I walked into the kitchen and look around. I looked at Kaleb and with hands on his hips he says, "Well, it was everywhere, so I took out the little broom and swept it all up. It's in the trash. You're really proud of me, huh?" He had his little eyebrow raised and was just waiting for my approval. All I could do was smile and tell him, "Sure am proud, Buddy." I bent over to wipe up the floor and quietly said to myself, "Would've just been better if you wouldn't have spilled it....". He peeked around the corner and said, "Then, you couldn't have been so proud of me." LOL, I tell ya. This kid is always leaving me speechless. He is so witty and always catches me off guard with his responses. I have the hardest time not laughing at him and his sister when I should be disciplining them. Don't worry, I somehow manage. But, wow, they are too funny.
    Tonight I took him to his second swimming class at Swimtastic. He was so excited to go. I love sitting there watching him because EVERY single time that he does something he looks over to me at the window and gives me a thumbs up. Back float, cheesy smile and a thumbs up. Head in the water, cheesy smile and a thumbs up. Super special secret jump at the end of class, you guessed it, cheesy smile and a thumbs up. HA! I laugh through the whole lesson :)

New Year, New Blog

   The last year we have had to deal with a lot of changes in our lives. Most of them focusing on life after having our daughter, Ella, diagnosed with the rare genetic disease, Spinal Muscualr Atrophy (SMA). I have been using CaringBridge to do updates on her and it has been a great place to keep people updated and to go for support. However, Ella is doing so well that I don't have constant updates on specifically her. So, I thought that with the new year I would begin a new blog, one that focuses on our family as a whole. I will continue to update on Ella as things come up, but in general I just want to document the fun, crazy, love-filled life that we have. I hope that you all enjoy reading about some of the moments that we share as Mommy (Jen), Daddy (Brandon), Kaleb (big brother), and Ella (little sister).

Mommy-Making Moments......

Life is all about the moments....the moment you fall in love, the moment you see your new baby's face, the moment you hear your little one say, "You're the best mommy in the whole world." All of the moments of my life, whether the sweet, fill your heart with love ones, or the gut-wrenching hold on to each other ones, make me the Mommy that I am and the wife that I am. Each of these moments have gotten me to where I am and for that I am thankful :) I decided that I need a new place to record all of life's moments, and here it is, "Mommy-Making Moments".