The other day I saw a hilarious e-card on Facebook. Well, it would have been hilarious if it weren’t so eerily true. It said something like “All these stay at home moms are on Pinterest making their own soap and reindeer shaped treats, and I’m over here like hey, I took a shower and kept the kids alive”. I am not sure how long I have felt this way, but I know that it goes back even to before my second son was born. Some days I manage to get a few things done, but much of the time I … Continue reading →

Yesterday I talked about my grand plans for narrowing down Dylan’s toy collection in preparation for his birthday and Christmas. Today, I was able to set the plan in motion. This afternoon, after we returned home from going out to lunch with my dad, Dylan went into the playroom to play. I brought Blake in there with me and I explained my plan to Dylan. We have four large bins in the playroom, and I explained that we were going to sort the toys into the bins. Two bins would be filled with toys that we would keep in the … Continue reading →

Tonight is our last night in the beach house here in Palm Coast, Florida. Tomorrow we will be embarking on our journey back to Vermont. So far, the trip has been fun. It has been tons of fun at times, and loads of stress at others. Of course, these things are par for the course when you take a family road trip. There have been some wonderful moments during this vacation. Yesterday was very special, as it was my sister’s wedding day. The boys both had a good day behavior – wise and things went smoothly. From spending time with … Continue reading →

This evening, I took the boys out for more extensive Halloween activity than we have ever done before. This was Dylan’s third Halloween. For his first Halloween, he was a little bear and we only went to the children’s costume parade downtown. Last year, we did nothing. I forget why, but we did not dress up or go anywhere. This year, we all dressed as firefighters (even the baby) and went out two times. For both outings, my goal was the same – to have fun with Dylan and Blake without the boys eating any candy. As we drove towards … Continue reading →

Sharing is one of those things that every parent wishes would come naturally for their child. Of course, sharing does not come naturally to toddlers. The ability to share grows in a person as the ability to empathize develops. Empathy is the ability to recognize and understand what another person is feeling, and empathy is a complex emotional skill that develops slowly throughout childhood. In other words, expecting a toddler to share is not realistic. That does not mean that a toddler should be allowed to hog all of the toys at play group, or to snatch toys away from … Continue reading →

As difficult as being a stay at home mom to a toddler and an infant can be, I would not trade it for any other set of circumstances in the world. On days where things are not going so well, it is easy to day dream about what my life might be like if I were working and the boys were at day care. Today, something happened that made it absolutely clear to me that home with my boys is really where my heart is. We were in the car, going home from the grocery store. Dylan was munching on … Continue reading →

The days in the life of a parent of a toddler can be quite chaotic, and full of ups and downs. Today was a particularly challenging day for me, as was yesterday. Still, despite my feelings about how the past couple of days have gone, I can truthfully say that there have been some wonderful moments woven in among the not so wonderful ones. Sometimes when I feel like things are not going well and like I am failing miserably at being the kind of mom that I want to be, I take comfort in the good moments regardless of … Continue reading →

Halloween is just around the corner, and for the parents of toddlers it can be both a very fun and a very challenging holiday to navigate. Getting your little guy or girl into a costume is not likely to be much of a battle because most toddlers love to play “dress up”. If you want, you can even get into the act with a compatible costume for yourself. Your toddler is sure to love seeing Mommy, Daddy, or both “playing dress up” too. This year, Dylan has decided that he would like to be a fireman. He already has his … Continue reading →

I am not sure what I expected life with a baby and a toddler would be like. In fact, I am pretty sure that I did not have any expectations. For some reason, I simply did not think about what it would be like until Blake came along. In hindsight it is probably best that I did not have any preexisting expectations because they may have been completely different than what has actually transpired during the past seven months. The first couple of months were a blur, as things normally are after the arrival of a new baby. Time passed, … Continue reading →