Life with a 2 and 3 year old

I just realized this morning while Paxton and I were grocery shopping that Harper is 3 1/2 years old. It seems like it was only a month or so ago when we had her birthday party in Oklahoma, that is just craziness. However, three has been quite a trying time with my crazy emotional three year old. All of my friends with older children warned me that the terrible two's are nonsense and three's are the year of exhaustion. I literally can not do anything right by her. She wants help putting on her jacket, but ahhhhhh nooooo thats TOO much help, resulting in tears. Anything that we do once that is "fun" tends to get ruined after it turns into a competition between H & P. For example, when Josh leaves for work in the morning we started making a big deal about who gets the last kiss before he goes out to his car. To Josh and I it was silly fun little joke and it made the kids feel special. However, now its become a HUGE deal to the kids and they argue and fight and get upset on who gets/doesn't get the last kiss. *sigh* And don't even bother trying to rush her to do absolutely anything. The girl is on her own time schedule and if life moves faster it can be quite upsetting.

On the other hand with Mr. Paxton J Pluid I feel like I am on the episode of Family Guy where Stewie is talking to his mom, Lois and saying "mom, mom, mom, mama, mama, mommy, mommy, mooom, mom, mama...... HI" I remember the days when he barely spoke and I longed for him to be able to communicate with me. I was over the moon excited when he started saying mama. Now I would pay him for every time he held restraint. I am so proud of how well he is speaking now but my goodness the kid NEVER. STOPS. TALKING. Lately his newest phrase is "mama what you doin?" and he will not stop asking until acknowledged. Cute for the first time, not cute after I have answered him the 5,000th time that day with practically the same answers "I'm cleaning Pax or I'm driving you guys to _______, or Nothing buddy" He feels big, I know that. He loves the attention, I get that too. He is learning and practicing, yes yes I know, I know.  Please don't think I am awful.

Let's just say nap time is my mental recharging time.  Sitting down to eat lunch without little hands grabbing my food. An hour or two of trashy, mindless, reality TV. Or best, sitting in silence reading a book. It's bliss.

BUUUUUUUT then things like this happen.....

And my heart literally oozes out of me and melts right at my feet. All on their own they decided to climb up on the couch and snuggle with one another. I come into the room and catch them in this act and see Harper giving Paxton back scratches like I do when I wake him up. To hear those sweet innocent proud giggles is pure bliss. Being their mama is mentally exhausting some days. I have realized that I will not always be the favorite. I will not always be the nice one. I will not always be the fun mom. But I will always and forever be loved by these two wholeheartedly.

Here are a few iphone pics of our crazy life with these two lately:

Being taken care of when sick

Is there anything better than getting to go home to your mom's house and get taken care of when you're feeling sick?

At the beginning of February I was having some weird stomach pains that I was writing off as a stomach bug. So many people around me were having the stomach flu I thought maybe I was having some weird form of it minus all the bathroom issues, vomiting, & fever. I was feeling lots of pain in between my ribs and feeling crazy bloated. After about 8 days of continuously feeling badly and after talking to a few friends I went to the urgent care center after experiencing stabbing pains in my stomach. Josh came home from work to watch the kids and I went up to the doc. Since urgent care centers aren't equipped with much equipment they sent me over to the hospital. I don't even have a family doctor here after 2 years becasue I never ever get sick or feel sick enough for the doctor. Going to the ER was like a huge anxiety situation for me. All I could think about was the costly bill they are going to give me to tell me I just have a virus or heartburn. Long story short I still don't know exactly what is wrong with me. At the hospital they ruled out gallstones and insinuated its possibly an ulcer. They sent me home with a prescription for an acid blocker and a referral to see a GI doctor who didn't have an opening until mid March. Super discouraging. I ended up going to see a family doctor to see if they could help at all in the mean time. Leaving the hospital while still in major pain was not a great feeling. The doctor the next day ruled out a bacteria and doubled my medicine intake and told me to eat no fats, caffeine, spicy foods, or alcohol. Take the fun out of life why don't ya!!

Whatever is going on with my stomach left me feeling really tired, bloated, and all I wanted to do was to lay down on the couch. Josh was so incredibly sweet and would bring me soup and let me lay down and take over with the kids on weekends and when he was home in the evenings. I am typically on my game with cleaning and laundry and dinner and he didn't even mention or notice that I was majorly slacking in all of those departments. I guiltily allowed the kids to watch more Dora the Explorer, Peppa Pig, and Super Why than ever before and they were getting restless as well. After feeling crummy for another week we packed up our things and drove down to Oklahoma to stay with my mom. I had this trip planned for a while to go down and stay at my moms house along with plans to drive to Duncan to stay with Katie and go out to dinner with friends and a whole full schedule. Unfortunately, I cancelled all the extra stuff and parked myself at my moms house. It's so relaxing to have my mom around. I didn't have to worry about cooking or cleaning or laundry. She helped me with the kids and would tell me to relax after dinner and to not worry about cleaning up the dishes. The kids had such a great time getting to be in a different environment than being quarantined at the house. It was just really nice to be taken care of and have extra help with the kids all day every day for almost a week. Fortunately I am feeling better with the medicine I am on most of the time, but am still waiting to see the GI doc for more answers. Could be an ulcer, could be my gallbladder, could be something else, who knows! I am just really thankful for an amazing husband who takes great care of me while I am feeling bad and who is understanding when the kids and I decide to leave town to go to OK for 5 days. I am also thankful for a mom who makes a house I never lived in before feel like home. It was mentally refreshing to go home and be with family and get taken care of for a week. Last, I am also thankful to all who have been checking in on me to ask how I am feeling. I feel super loved =).