man-brows

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Tiffany

I have big news, y’all.

I’m judging a beauty pageant this weekend.

Like for real. Me.

Please, try to contain your laughter to a respectable level.

Also, please help me remember to wax my eyebrows before Saturday.

Because, seriously, nothing would be worse than showing up to judge beauty stuff with my natural man-brows.

Something hit me today though.

How am I going to be able to contain my laughter? Y’all know that I am KNOWN for my giggle fits.

I’m trying to figure out what drug to take to sedate me so that I can keep my giggling to a minimum.

Let me know if y’all have a solution to this.

The past week and a half have been a series of DOOZY days. I mean. DOOZIES.

These heifers of mine have been in full force crazy defiant mode.

ME: No.

Girls: She means YES DO IT.

That is basically the run down of the past 10 days. Goodness.

So I’ve been having a bit of a obedience bootcamp.

Clearly it is going well.

I was getting ready when I noticed the above graffiti. I immediately go to Rory and ask her if she did this. The following was our conversation:

Me: Rory, did you write on my cabinets?

Rory (with her most innocent face): No, it was Ryder. Her did it and is very bad.

Me: Rory, are you telling the truth? Are you telling me that you did not write your name on my cabinets?

Rory: Yes, I tell truth. It was Ryder.

Me: Rory, are you sure you are telling me the truth? How does Ryder know how to write your name? Last time I saw Ryder write anything all she could do was scribble.

Rory: Well, I just hold her hand and show her how to write R-O-R-Y.

Now, people. In these moments it is really hard for me to keep my composure. Somehow I managed to not even crack a smile. I should get a trophy.

The best part about summer in the new house is obviously the pool. I can let them swim before nap and that, my friends, is how I make it through long days of discipline issues.

I now have to figure out what to wear to be a judge at this pageant.

And I’m practicing my eternal laughter.

I feel like I’m going to be twitching pretty badly.

Stay tuned…

its all your fault

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Tiffany

I would like to issue a formal apology for my lack of blogging. I have no idea what has gotten into me, besides just being busy or tired. I have started lots of blog posts but just an overall feeling of “blah” washes over me and I delete. Maybe one day I will get my act together.

This past weekend Andy and I took a little anniversary trip to Memphis and we had a great time. It was really nice to have a couple of days to ourselves.

Friday night we ate at Flight Restaurant in Memphis and it was the best experience. All the food (and maybe wine…. ha) are served in “flights” or smaller portions of meals. It was so incredible. Everything we had was amazing. Then we wondered down to Beale Street and immediately felt old and tired. But whatever. HA.

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It was such a great start to the weekend. It was nice to get dressed up and go somewhere special to celebrate our anniversary.

Saturday we went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and then went to a movie. That night we went to eat at Aldos pizza place in downtown Memphis and then to a Redbirds game. It was so fun! The perfect day together. (Thank you Emily for two awesome suggestions on food while in Memphis!)

Sunday we went to get the girls from my parents. It was so good to see them. I missed them so much the whole weekend. I like time away but I also miss them something serious when we are away from them.

Sunday was also my birthday. Just BTW. ha!

I told the girls all I wanted was just ONE PICTURE with them. I think we got a decent one!

We spent some time with my parents and then came back home. That night we went to church and then to my friend Haley’s house afterward. She had baked cupcakes and had a little sign and balloon for me. It was definitely the perfect ending to a great weekend!

Monday night we went to Andy’s parents’ house for a little birthday get together. We had the best time. I got to hang out with Ashley (sister in law) and it was actually really relaxing. Then the girls worked their magic on the grandparents and asked very pitifully if they could spend the night. So we got an awesome night of sleep! Woohoo!

Have I mentioned those are the times I am so happy to be back in TN?

Today I have been doing laundry non-stop and the girls are having a big ol’ time playing with their toys. Shocking, I know. Rory has been extra dramatic this week and is currently saying her new phrase, “ITS ALL YOUR FAULT RYDER!”. I’ve never said anything like that to her or around her so I have no idea where she got it.

And by the way.

Just when I was thinking things were getting a little easier and Rory has gotten a little bit out of the terrible two’s/three’s …..

RYDER HAS ENTERED THEM.

Big time.

She’s wearing me out y’all. WEARING ME OUT.

Alright. I must get back to the massive amounts of laundry.

Happy Wednesday!

what they don’t tell you about marriage

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Tiffany

Yesterday was Andy and I’s 9 year anniversary.

I know what you are thinking- how could SHE be married for nine years? She’s much too young!

Ha.

Well, at just 18 years old I married a guy I was crazy about. He was 19 and handsome as could be (some things will never change).

We were two skinny babies who had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Sweet mercy, no no no we didn’t. We were blissfully unaware of the hardships and joys that came with marriage.

I remember the first year and remember feeling bad ALL THE TIME about myself and our marriage because IT WAS HARD and everyone kept commenting on how we must be experiencing “newlywed bliss”… and I all I could think was “IF THIS IS BLISS I CAN’T FATHOM WHAT HELL WOULD LOOK LIKE”.

Not saying it was hell necessarily, but well, some days were.

I thought something was way wrong with me because, quite frankly, sometimes I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into and if I wouldn’t have severely disappointed all those who loved us, I might have just ran away. (remember, I was only 19 our first year of marriage… aka I was dumb and selfish.) Plus, EVERYONE on social media that was married seemed to be so happy they couldn’t help but share their happiness every FIVE SECONDS on there and well, I kinda wanted to punch all of them in the face a little. Or a lot.

Each year after the first got a smidge better, but honestly it wasn’t until the fourth year that I finally could say I truly enjoyed being Andy’s wife. We had gotten through some severely hard times and I felt like we finally had made it to a place where we didn’t struggle constantly.

Not to say the past 5 years after that fourth year mark haven’t been hard because OH THEY HAVE at times, but we finally figured out how to fight better and finally became less selfish.

And that’s the thing they don’t tell you about marriage. It seems like it is either you are blissfully married or you are suddenly divorcing. No one tells you about the middle.

Andy and I decided a long time ago that divorce just was not an option for us. It just isn’t. And we have been through things that most wouldn’t make it through.

Only by the grace of God did we make it to 9 years.

And are we blissfully married now? Yes and no.

Yes- I love that man more than ever. Yes- I am so proud of him. YES- I cannot fathom my life without him.

No- marriage is still so hard. No- we are at a stage with young kids who tend to hate sleep and we take out our sleep deprived frustration on each other.

Yesterday Andy and I both gave each other cards. What the card writers said was sweet and sentimental, but it was what WE wrote to each other that was both funny and touching.

We both wrote a version of the same exact thing- “This wasn’t our favorite year of marriage. It wasn’t our hardest or our easiest. But I still wouldn’t have wanted to spend it without you. Here’s to a much better year where we try harder to love and respect each other.”

At first I laughed because we seriously wrote the same exact thing pretty much.

And then I found myself crying out of happiness that we still had so much hope and promise to make it better this year. We BOTH realized it wasn’t our best year and we BOTH are ready to tackle another year to make it much better than the last.

We are on the same page, and that is a good place to be.

Andy is my favorite blessing. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Even the hardest years are better with him in it.

waffles.

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Tiffany

We have had a crazy busy week! And I have become quite the blog slacker! And I can’t stop with the exclamation marks! None of this is exciting enough for exclamation marks!

Monday was Memorial Day and we had some family over for the day. The kids swam, the guys (and me too but I don’t want to talk about how terrible I was) played washers (or warshers if you are extra special), we ate and ate and ate, and we talked and talked and talked. It was a great day and I loved having everyone at our house for the first time!

Also, I got no pictures. Fail.

Tuesday was my “day off” aka Mother’s Day Out. I prepped some furniture, ate with my Tuesday lunch girls, and then decided I wanted to watch Gilmore Girls start to finish. Again.

Basically, I was REAL productive.

On Wednesday we had our first pool playdate of the summer! It was so much fun and all the kids were so good and had a blast!

Bought a house with a pool and suddenly I’m the most popular person in Savannah.

HAAA! kidding! I’m so excited to have a fun summer with friends over all the time!

Yesterday was Ryder’s last Thursday at school (they are going just Tuesdays in June) so I decided to take advantage of it and have a Rory Fun Day! This time we drove to Memphis and met some friends at the zoo! Next time we meet up we will have to do something that Wilder and Rory can actually play together and interact more!

Rory was so sweet the whole day. She was so excited and loved every second of the day and so did I! I love getting some one on one time with her.

We got home and Rory was determined she was going to swim. This girl is seriously A FISH. She has gotten really good in the water too. She saw some big kids swimming with their faces in the water so now she swims with hers in there too. Its so cute.

Now let’s discuss something here.

Ryder is KILLING ME with her eating.

I know, I know… what’s new?

But people, this is the TOTAL OPPOSITE problem we had when she was a baby and wouldn’t eat.

Now I can’t get enough in her.

(this is not a complaint, I just want y’all to know about the craziness of it)

Every single day she wakes up yelling, “Momma! Sausage! Waffles! Mommaaaa! Waffles! Sausage!”.

What am I?! Chopped liver?! Can I get a “Momma! Good Morning! I love you! You are the best mother who ever walked this earth! I can’t wait to spend the day NOT getting into trouble with you!” ?????????!!!!

So this morning Rory opted to eat cereal and Ryder, obviously, wanted WAFFLES.

She then proceeded to eat three waffles, about a cup of strawberries, and a sausage patty. Oh, yes she did.

Then about thirty minutes later, she came to me and said, “Momma! Snack! Snack peeease!”

Insert the “excuse me????” mom-face.

That is why we shall forever call her The Piraña.

I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’m scared of those teeth just about as bad as a real life piraña’s teeth. For Reals.

Have a great weekend!

highjacking the program

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Tiffany

I would like to start this post by saying…

WHY DO Y’ALL LET ME SAY POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT SLEEP KNOWING I AM JINXING MYSELF?!!!!!

The past two nights = little sleep.

I do it to myself every single time.

Sigh.

So yesterday I picked Rory up from school and she was covered, head to toe, in dirt.

Because, duh, they were digging for worms.

Rory’s teacher said to me, “this girl gives the boys a run for their money… all the other girls just do what they say but she doesn’t take crap from NOBODY.” ha!!!!!

So as I’m leaving, the girls’ teachers were asking if we would be there for the program that night. This is the first I’ve heard of such a program. They said they would both be singing songs and it would be short and cute.

Well, I had already decided not to go because there was pretty much no way I could get the children bathed and have them back up there in time.

Then, all of a sudden, on the way home I start hearing sobbing from the back seat. Rory had forgotten her beloved Gloria at school. (As in, Gloria the hippo.)

So I decided to just go to the program and let them sing just so we could get Gloria and not have the wrath of Rory upon us.

We dropped the kids off in their classes and got decent seats and are half excited/half scared at what was to come.

Finally the kids come out and Ryder immediately decided to sit at the front with the director who was the only one who had a microphone. Then Rory decided to go up there too.

This is when I should have started shouting, “MAYDAY! MAYDAY!”, but I still had false hope at the time.

All of a sudden I start seeing my children standing up on the prayer bench alter thing and JUMPING OFF with a sound like “woooo!” with their hands way in the air.

Oh. And they had their spirit fingers out big time.

So that happened about 20 times, much to my humiliation.

And they were dancing, and jumping, and shouting, and giggling, and jumping, and pulling their dresses up, and shoving each other, and jumping, and dancing, and running through the aisles just out of my reach.

I know you are all wondering what I was doing during this highjacking of the program..

well, there came a point where I had to make a decision…

do I jump up and get my kids from their delightful performances while also having my large rear end in EVERY SINGLE VIDEO, or do I just let them be and be mortified?

I chose mortified.

Because the only thing worse than their entertaining qualities is my rear being in all the PreK graduation videos across Savannah.

Here are the stinkers before the craziness really started… I got no other pictures or videos because I just was too humiliated/exhausted to film it.

They are trying to look so innocent.

DON’T BELIEVE THEM.

People keep commenting on how they can see entertainment careers in their future.

Lord, help me.

This morning the little stinkers were watching a movie so I thought it’d be the prime opportunity for a shower. I mean, they are older now so I get showers more often than I used to.

So I got a shower, and it was blissful. No one interrupted me. Awesome.

And while in the shower, I was thinking, “Man! This is much easier than it used to be!”. I couldn’t believe how I was able to take a shower without any problems.

Then I got out.

I could hear Rory yelling, “MOM! HURRY! RYDER MAKE A MESS!”.

I came into the living room to find Ryder pant-less and poop EVERYWHERE. She had taken her diaper off and was now trying to clean it up but it was NOT GOING WELL FOR HER.

And all I could think was that it wasn’t even 8:00 am yet.

WHY? WHYYYY?! WHYYYYYYY?!

Is it sad how normal all of this is for me?

After all that mess, we went to WalMart and I gave the girls donuts so they would be quiet and behave. We saw all of Savannah but I didn’t care.

Silence is golden.

Or in my case, silence is mostly DEADLY.

Happy Memorial Weekend!

life has changed so much

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Tiffany

Around 1:30 in the morning last night, I woke up with a child staring at me in that creepy way children insist on waking you up in the middle of the night. I jumped and sucked in my breath (because even in my subconscious fright I’d never let out a yell that would wake the kids!) and then realized it was just Rory. Too exhausted from being up with ear pain to put her back in bed, I just threw her in the middle of us. She snuggled up and immediately started snoring and I smiled in delight over it.

That is when it hit me. Life has changed so much.

Rory has officially, until last night which was honestly totally not her fault, slept ALL NIGHT BY HERSELF IN HER BED for a month straight. No waking up. Sleeping until 6 or later.

I don’t know if you realize… its not like I have ever talked about sleep issues here, ha!… but this is the first time in her life that she has slept so well.

And it is life changing.

I realize that sounds dramatic to those of you who have never had legitimate sleep issues with kids, but it really is.

What is funny is the first week this all started, Andy and I were SO TIRED. We went to bed at around 9 each night and would wake up more tired than ever. Our bodies (especially mine) were so used to no sleep that it took well over a week to adjust to sleeping all night. I swear I had a sleep hangover big time.

And since Rory is sleeping, so is Ryder, especially now that she has zyrtec every night. That has been such a relief too because she’s finally not miserable.

It’s crazy how sleep makes life more bearable.

Last week was Rory’s last week at her “preschool”. She only goes two days a week, but just those two days changed her life so much this year. She wasn’t labeled the “problem” anymore and her confidence SOARED. What an answer to prayer and a burden lifted off this momma’s shoulders. She LOVED going to school to see “Miss-us” Sharon and Miss Bonita.

Here she is first day of preschool and last day of preschool. My, my , my how she has changed. She’s taller, she’s losing that baby face, and SHE IS SLEEPING. Things that are the same- same bow, same sassiness (but with that pose, seems to be growing), and still bruised up legs from playing hard!

Tuesday was her last official day of school because Thursday was Preschool Fun Day. Tuesday we went for our favorite after school treat to get frozen yogurt! Rory loves the catfish out front!

Then Thursday we had a wonderful day with all our school friends! I wish I could’ve gotten a picture of the entire group.

This past weekend I was invited to a (very southern) Sip and See for a dear friend from Starkville, Kathryn and her new baby Mattie Grace. I was so excited to go, and everyone was bringing their kids, so I decided to bring Rory and Ryder along too. Well the day before I realized I’d be in the car for 6 hours for a two hour shower and that made me a little crazy to think about so I decided to get a hotel on Friday and spend more time with friends. Then after booking hotel I went a little crazy because I was SO WORRIED about how the girls would do since their track records for hotels isn’t the greatest and I was going to be BY MYSELF. So insert panic attack moment.

But, much to my surprise, the girls were DELIGHTFUL. Their behavior, sleeping, and their mostly calm car riding SHOCKED ME if I’m being honest. It was the most fun weekend I’ve had in a long time. I loved getting to be able to take the girls to Starkville and letting them meet all my friends and their little kids.

hotel fun (they insisted on sleeping together and it worked well for half the night, then Ryder wanted to sleep ALONE…)

We met up with my sweet friends Kristen and Lydia at Chik-Fil-A first and the kids all had a blast playing in the playground area and eating together. Then we somehow managed to get all five children down for a nap at the same time.

JUST CALL US MIRACLE WORKERS/BABY WHISPERERS/SUPER MOMS.

After nap we went to our hotel and swam our little hearts out and ate some pizza! It was such a fun day and night!

As you can see, Ryder became OBSESSED with Reed and the feeling was MUTUAL to say the least. Bless their hearts, they were down right smitten. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Guess we will just have to arrange a marriage or something. HA!

Saturday was the shower for Kathryn and y’all it was the best time ever. I loved getting to visit with my sweet friends from way back when we were in college.

This group of girlfriends have been through so much together. Incredible joys and incredible losses, devastating divorce, infertility and miscarriages, cancer, job losses, extremely sick babies, and I could go on and on. But even in MY darkest times, these girls have always been the first to tell me they are praying for me and I know they mean it. I’m so blessed to have them, even if we don’t see each other as often as I would like, I love knowing they are there no matter what.

Top picture- left to right: Ashley, Kristen, Lydia, me, Emily, Amanda, Martha Ann, Kathryn

Bottom picture- left to right with kids: Lyda (Jake and Reed), Ashley (Peyton- not pictured?), Kristen (Collette), Me and the stinkers, Emily (Olivia and Riley, Sam not pictured), Martha Ann (Emma), Kathryn (Mattie Grace), Amanda

Ryder, Riley, Olivia, Rory- these girls had the best time together. Riley and Olivia were like little babysitters. They did such a great job watching the girls during the shower and at lunch! Rory has asked for them every day since!

I just had the best time in Starkville. On the way out of town Rory said, “Momma, I just love Starkville.” Oh me too baby, me too.

Since Ryder was so insistent that she sleep ALONE in the hotel room, I decided to go ahead and take the dive into a big girl bed. I was so worried she’d wake up scared or wake up not wanting to be in it since she is already such a good sleeper in a crib as long as she is feeling good.

Well. Easiest transition EVEERRRR. (I’m using the word ‘ever’ a lot in this post, yes?) Anyway- seriously, she loves it. She has slept so good in it, sleeping all night and later than normal. So thankful! Doesn’t she look so tiny in that big ol’ bed?!

The other big news associated with the new bed is that I’m able to just lay her down again and walk out and she goes right to sleep. AMAZING! Isn’t she precious?!

I’ve always hated the guard rail things but had to break down and get one because the daybed was higher up than I expected. Well, little miss was just like this and sound asleep when I went to check on her this morning! So much for guard rails! ha!

It was an awesome weekend with my girls and we loved coming home to Andy on Saturday. This week has been busy too, I will post more later on that. Right now my kids just went down for nap without a fight and I’m heading to bed myself for once!

Happy nap time!

I am my mother.

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Tiffany

For Mother’s Day we headed to Jackson to spend some time with my mom and dad. My sister and her family came over too and we just had a great time. It was a totally stress free time for me because Rory is at an age where I don’t have to worry about every move she makes anymore and Ryder was so totally obsessed with Jacks that I was basically kid-less!

God blessed me with the best mother. She, along with my dad, has always been my biggest cheerleader.

But more than all that, I think the most important lesson my mom has taught me is to laugh. Laugh through the hard times, the good times, and all the times in between. I’m so thankful that my parents weren’t rigid and too serious. I grew up in a house where my mom said things wrong (for example: she was asked once, “what did you do while Tiff was in surgery?” and she replied, “oh, I just read a good boob!”… you can imagine the laughter that followed. in fact, I’m still laughing about it.) and had funny blunders. (don’t worry- my dad had them too!) Instead of crawling away in a hole and acting crazy about it, she just always laughed. In fact, she laughed harder at herself than anyone else could. There are so many more hilarious things she did- I will tell you about the time she believed she found “the marijuana” in my car another time, it is a personal favorite of mine …

So, when last week I had a major blunder, I couldn’t help but think of how I AM MY MOTHER.

You see, I went to Lowe’s to get some paint, and was texting a friend on the way to the car. I threw my paint in the car and walked around to get in the driver’s seat. When I went to open the door, I was startled because A MAN WAS SITTING IN MY CAR!!!! So startled, in fact, that I screamed in fright.

Only… it wasn’t my car.

So, naturally, the guy is DYING FROM LAUGHTER and I’m still so shocked at everything I have no idea what to do. I walk around (WALK OF SHAME) to the passenger side, get my paint, mutter “have a great day!”, and basically run to my car. I glance back and the dude’s car is shaking so hard and he’s wiping tears from his face.

And I start crying.

As in, I CAN’T BREATH BECAUSE I’M LAUGHING SO HARD TEARS ARE SHOOTING FROM MY FACE.

I literally am laughing right now writing it again. (I know a lot of you already have heard this story…)

And that is why I love being Debbie McIntire’s daughter. Because I have the upmost confidence that laughter heals and makes everything so much better thanks to her.

Now, my choir director might not be so fond of this giggle gene, but that’s another story for another time as well…

So, yes, I am my mother. And I couldn’t be happier about that.

Love you, Mom! Don’t be mad at me forever for exposing your boob blunder to all your bookkeepers. (PS- Hi bookkeepers!!)

tooting arguments

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Tiffany

Lord have mercy, y’all, is it a full moon?!

My children are insane.

But let’s discuss something we don’t already know, shall we…

This week has been plenty crazy without the kids’ behavior issues coming to play. Monday was Ryder’s big allergist appointment. She had 33 pricks and was allergic to all but one thing (and I can’t even remember what it was). She is mostly allergic to trees and grasses. So basically, I need to put her in a bubble.

After the appointment I was heading to get Ryder’s blood work done and BAM! I came down with the stupid stomach virus. My parents were absolute saints and let me stay there and watched Ryder for me while I slept it off and ran to the bathroom every few minutes. Rory was at Andy’s parents until Monday night and then he took her to school on Tuesday for me. This was definitely a time I’m so glad we live close to grandparents now!

Andy has been working non-stop after work on the girls’ playset. Last night, he finally finished! Here he is “Tebowing” in front of it in celebration:

That picture makes me laugh so hard.

We may or may not be goobers.

Again, let’s discuss something we don’t already know…

It occurred to me this week as I was trying to wrangle my children, who by the way have become little devils, that maybe I’ve been thinking ALL WRONG about this parenting thing.

What if (and yes, maybe I’m reaching a bit on this one) the most frustrated, sometimes frazzled, not perfectly put together moms are actually the best moms???

Okay you can laugh a little.

Now, here me out…

I am all the time looking around at these women who seem to have it all together and I am SO NOT that mother. I look on pinterest or other blogs and see these super moms and it always makes me feel so bad about myself.

But then lately I’ve been noticing some of the moms (NOT ALL) that aren’t the least bit frustrated/frazzled with their children are also not concerned with how their children are acting. Their children are tearing things up, pitching fits, hitting, etc and the moms just don’t do much about it.

That’s when it occurred to me actually. I was busy telling Rory for the 209230913 time not to do something when I thought, “hey, I’m actually still trying to get her to be obedient and respectful after ALL THESE TRIES…. I’m still hanging in there and fighting this battle and not letting her win.”

The truth is, it’d be so easy for me to give up and just let them do whatever they want. THAT would be the easy thing to do, but instead I’m fighting a battle so I can be able to relax a little more later when I know they have been raised to do the right things and be respectful.

So I will take frazzled. At least I’m still fighting to better my kids.

And speaking of fighting…

One thing I’ve really worked on with the girls is to treat each other with kindness.

Well today has been one of those days where they are determined to fight with each other. They have fussed and argued over anything and EVERYTHING.

For example.

This morning the girls were eating breakfast at the table and I was getting a jump start on some cleaning while they were semi-contained with their waffles.

I start hearing them fuss and started listening more to what is going on.

Rory: Ryder, stop saying that! It wasn’t you!

Ryder: I TOOT! MEEEEEE! ME TOOT! ME! I TOOT!

Rory: NO YOU DIDN’T! IT WAS ME! I TOOTED! I DID IT!

Ryder: NOOOO MEEEEEE! MINE TOOOOOOOT!

Rory: MOMMMMMMMMMM! RYDER IS SAYING HER TOOTED AND HER DIDN’T TOOTED, IT WAS ME! I TOOTED NOT HER!

Ryder: NOOOOOOOOOO ROOOOORY- MINE TOOOOOOOTED! MEEEEEEEE MINE TOOOOOOTED! ME! ME! TOOT TOOT!

Rory: *sob wail sob sob wail* RYDER BE QUIETTTTT IT WASN’T YOU! YOU NOT TOOTED!

Sigh.

Really girls? Arguing over who tooted?

Sigh.

Does this happen at your house?

It’s funny how they can go from worst enemies to best friends though.

I will leave you with some uber cute pictures of the little stinkers.

Playing tag- their new favorite game.

oh. and meet Dixie.

Happy Weekend!

choosing joy

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Tiffany

In the midst of motherhood, there are times when the days and nights run all together. Sometimes I can’t decide which is more unbearable, the days or the nights.

When the nights are so long- for example, last night I literally only got thirty minutes of sleep- I feel like I just cannot do it anymore. I can’t be a mom. I can’t be a wife. I just can’t do it anymore. The darkness comes in like a crashing wave and knocks me down over and over again. I pray in the darkness for whichever kid is having a hard night to please just be able to go to sleep for just a solid hour. I pray for God to help me be able to cope with no sleep. I plead for sleep, rest, and peace for just a short while.

But sometimes it just doesn’t come. Ryder’s pain was too great after eating the tiniest amount of dairy and she just couldn’t settle down, just couldn’t get comfortable. I quietly sob in the darkness that is engulfing me, remembering our journey and how hard it has been. I sometimes say in a pleading tone, “why can’t she just catch a break? why can’t she just feel good?”. This precious child of mine, the most pleasant toddler on the face of the earth, who has dealt with more pain and prodding and procedures than most people will ever go through seems to be in a constant state of discomfort with no real answers as to why. As much as I feel sorry for myself and the absolutely-no-sleep that I’m enduring, I can’t help but let the tears fall down my face as I’m soothing her and letting her sleep on top of me because it kills me that she is in so much pain.

When daylight starts to come in and I realize all hope of any more sleep is dead, I start to sob. No sugar coating it, I have myself an all-out ugly crying pity party. I think of ALL the nights I have done this with Rory and occasionally Ryder or both and how its just not fair that my kids don’t sleep. It’s just not fair that everyone else has kids who sleep all night in their own beds and sleep past 6am. It’s not fair that I don’t get to ship them to daycare and go to work.

All of those things are sinful and selfish, but I won’t hesitate to tell you that I did think them and I struggle with that all the time. No sleep and my natural born sinful nature just aren’t a pretty combination.

I come back into my room after I’ve sobbed all the tears I can out of me and think terrible thoughts on how bad the day will be because we will all be tired and grumpy, but something stops me in my tracks.

There they are, my two precious girls, snuggling each other in my bed. They are both saying, “Good morning!”, to each other with such joy and love. They don’t care that they didn’t sleep much, they are just happy to be there together. When they see me they hold out their arms and Rory says, “Let’s snuggle a little!”, and all those selfish, ugly feelings start to fade.

It is in those precious moments that God speaks to me the most, pulling me back toward Him and showing me what He has called me to do. He has called me to THIS mission field of motherhood.

So in that moment I have to take a deep breath and make a decision I can either CHOOSE to be happy and determine how our day is going to go, or I can CHOOSE to be a selfish butt all day.

And I’m not going to lie- there have been many days after long, sleepless nights that I have chosen to be a butt. MANY DAYS.

But today I chose to be happy.

I decided before we even ate breakfast that TODAY would be the day I didn’t let my temper and loss of sleep rule me. Today I would show mercy. Today I would choose to not raise my voice. Today I will say yes to my kids when they want to color, play tag, play dress up, watch a movie, or whatever it was that would be fun and not cause damage (ha).

And guess what- it was a wonderful day. We snuggled and watched movies which was special because of our new-ish no TV rule. We played tag in our princess dresses. We colored and drew funny pictures. We laughed. A lot.

Tonight I am able to crawl into bed and breathe a sigh of relief that everyone is sound asleep in their beds (including Andy who is currently sacked out with Rory but I don’t have the heart to disturb him) and I am able to smile and say that I DID A GREAT JOB TODAY.

It isn’t every day that I can say that, but today I can. Today I chose joy and chose to show mercy as God shows me every day, and tonight I will sleep well (if the heifers let me! ha!) knowing that I am a good mom even through all my failures and selfishness.

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

PS- If you are a mom/dad/wife/husband reading this- you are doing a good job too. Choose joy, I promise you won’t regret it.

oh Sh… ??

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Tiffany

This past weekend we met our friends Sam and Katie and their two little boys at the zoo. It was the absolute perfect day. The weather was PERFECT- not too hot or cold. There was a constant breeze and the sun was shining. Just perfect.

The girls loved every second of the zoo. They were so well behaved and fun. They loved looking at all the animals and running from one animal to another. We even got to feed some giraffes which was hilarious. Rory got the courage to do it but then the giraffe wrapped his insanely long tongue around her arm and she was DONE. Ryder just threw the lettuce at them instead. HA!

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On the way to Memphis, Ryder kept saying something that was shocking us. Andy and I were looking at each other with huge eyes like, “IS SHE REALLY SAYING THAT?!”. We couldn’t figure out who taught it to her (because really, I’m not perfect but this phrase I really don’t say! ha!) or where she heard it.

She was saying, “oh sh**”.

Now you see our surprise.

Finally, I turned around and realized that every time she said it she would hug her Shrek doll really tight. HA!

So she was actually saying, “Oh, Shrek.” while hugging him.

She’s been doing that nonstop for several days now. This morning I got it on camera because, y’all, it is HILARIOUS and I wanted to make sure I got it on camera before she started pronouncing it correctly, haha!

Now tell me that isn’t the cutest cursing baby you’ve ever seen.

We also got back to our church this weekend after two weeks off from being out of town. The girls loved seeing their friends again.

I took a little blog break last week because there was just SO MUCH going on. I was so burdened by everything in Boston and West, TX and on top of that we found out that Ryder is severely allergic to pineapple.

Like, we had a little trip to the ER.

So it was just a hard week and I decided to just take a week off.

Things are looking up though and Ryder has an allergist appointment next Monday finally. Poor thing has been just miserable and itchy this week.

The kids only have one month left of MDO so I’m trying my hardest to use Tues and Thurs to get some projects done and to just relax by myself. This week I’m hoping to knock out redoing two pieces of furniture (painting, antiquing). Can’t wait to show y’all the end result!

Happy Monday! Hope y’all have a great week!