Tami vs. Quilting: Round 1

After nearly a 4 year sabbatical from quilting, I am making my comeback! I haven't exactly started a quilt yet, but I did buy all my fabric yesterday (that's worth something, right?). Wish me luck and I will update you on my progress. Unfortunately I will not be able to post any pictures until the gift is delivered because I don't know if this person reads my blog or not. I am excited!!!

Love This Face

I took this picture of Tucker just about a week ago. We were outside jumping in mud puddles and I got him to stop long enough to take this picture. I just love his sweet face. He looks so much like my brother Dan, but then again, I've always thought that. I wish I knew how to do more editing to it (Angela, any suggestions??) I'd like to play with color and maybe figure out how to get rid of that gash on his nose, we have Addie to thank for that one!

Mother Of The Year...again...

Regretfully, here I am again.  Nominating myself for the Mother Of The Year.  I'm not sure these nominations will ever end, so I will embrace them with the knowledge that I am doing the best I job I can do.  We all fall short of the mark and none of us are perfect, although the perfectionist in me just doesn't want to accept that.  

Here's my latest shortcoming...

So just this afternoon I posted about thoughts of beating Tucker within an inch of his life.  He has been screaming, crying, whining and being a total pain in the behind for several days now.  He has also been sick.  For the first several days, I blamed his behavior on his cough and cold.  Who wants to think their child has turned evil over night?  So I babied him for days on end.  Finally, I just got tired of it.  The last 3 days have been so incredibly painful, both Matt and I are ready to take a permanent vacation from parenting.  

We have been giving Tucker 'Tussin and Tylenol for 7 days now, EVERY 6 hours.  On the back of the 'Tussin bottle it says that you shouldn't give this medication for more than 7 days, if the symptoms persist, call your physician.  So this morning I called our beloved doctor to get an appointment.  We got a call this morning saying that they had a 3:45 pm appointment available for both Tucker and Addie...WE WILL TAKE IT!  Three days ago, Addie started in with the same cough that Tucker has, so I wanted to get her checked out too.  

Fast Forward: In the doctor's office.  Addie gets checked out first.  Other than major snot and cough, she is fine.  There is nothing "wrong" with her.  As long as she doesn't get a fever greater than 102 and/or starts eating or sleeping less...no worries.  My poor baby Tucker, on the other hand, DOUBLE ear infection and a lung that doesn't sound clear.  NICE.  I feel like the worst Mommy.  I've been yelling at Tucker, sending him to time-out non-stop, and really wanting to just runaway from him...and he is sicker than snot!  I really, really hope that these antibiotics are the magic potion that Tucker needs to become himself again.  I'm going to assume that my child has been sicker than he can explain and that's the reason for all this nonsense.  I'm not sure how I'm going to excuse my impatient behavior, but then again, maybe that's why I'm nominating myself.  I own the fact that I've been treating my dear, sweet child like garbage for the last few days.  Why does motherhood come with a load of responsibility, two loads of love, and three loads of guilt?  

Terrible Twos...Fact or Fiction?

FICTION! Terrible twos don't exist. You might think they do while you are experiencing a "vibrant" two year old, but the depths of terrible don't hit until they are three years old. I'm not even sure what kind of word to use to describe the kind of hell that we are going through with Tucker right now. The frustration, anger and self control to not beat that kid within an inch of his life is beyond my vocabulary...not sure what to say. It doesn't matter what I say to him, his immediate response is, "No, Mommy" and it's not always defiant, but just a matter of fact. Just like you would say, "OK, Mommy" is how he is telling me no. It's almost like saying, "listen Mommy" but there is something about NO that just pushes me over the edge. He is screaming in his bed at night (let me remind you he is sharing a room with Addie) so when he starts screaming, Addie wakes up and chimes in too. When we go in the room and get him calmed down, this is what he says, "I need a hug". I haven't figured out yet if this is just a stalling tactic that tugs at my heart strings or if he really feels like he isn't getting the attention he needs. Either way...makes me feel like a failing mother. It also makes me feel like beating the the snot out of him for screaming at the top of his lungs, waking up his sister and then all he wants is a hug??!! He can't seem to listen to what we say, not a word. He has been sent to TimeOut so many times in the last few days, it's almost like that's his new hobby. He is refusing to go to the bathroom on the toilet and cries every time we try to take him in there. Does anyone else have any experience with the older sibling acting like the baby when a younger sibling is born? I feel like that's what happened. It's so frustrating. All of these wonderful three-year-old attributes coupled with the employment and living situation that we are going through is just about all I can handle. I'm about to go insane, if it hasn't already happened. Something has got to give. We have been in this situation for about 8 months now and it's WAY more than I thought I'd have to go through after getting out of the Army. Army life (minus deployments) is looking pretty sweet right now! I know we will get through this but the day to day life is just overwhelming in so many ways. As a final note, I'd like to take this time to thank Tucker for his continued support in my desire to not have any more children.

Never Want To Forget This

This is something that I never want to forget about Addie. She sleeps on her tummy now and she always has her hands up by her head or under her face when she sleeps. When she woke up from her nap the other day she had her hand prints all over her face! It was so funny. This has happened before, but not like this! I could actually see the outlines of her fingernails in that print on the side of her head! (if I were a better photographer, I would have captured that!) In these pictures, she has one hand print on the side of her face and the other is on her forehead. I love this about her and I know with time I will forget these little things...just one more reason to love this thing called blogging.

Birth Control

These are the kinds of things that confirm that I don't need anymore children. Isn't two enough? (this video was taken just outside the door of Tucker and Addie's room. This video is all black because the room is dark and all I wanted was the audio, aka screaming and crying.)

Bowling Date

Our dear friend Patty with Addie. This is the same Patty that was mentioned in a previous post, the amazing SuperMom who watched Addie for my date with my Mom. Emma and Tucker posing after their bowling game. I'm not sure what Tucker is doing, but it's pretty funny. When Tucker gets dressed in the morning we let him pick out the shirt he wants to wear. On the morning of bowling, he looks in his closet and checks out a few shirts before deciding on the Kung Fu Panda shirt. He pulls the shirt out of the closet and tells me, "I want to wear my Kung Fu Panda shirt. I think Emma will like it." Nice. Already dressing for the ladies Casanova? We are in way over our heads. Sorry Patty, Stephanie wins the Cute-Picture-Of-The-Day Award! Stephanie took over Addie Duty when she got to the arcade. She is so so good with her and Addie just loves her! Emma and Tucker playing air hockey! I had never seen a little kid air hockey table before! It was so cute and Tucker was actually pretty good at it. As usual, Emma was a total sweetie and was taking it easy on Tucker, making sure that the puck never went too fast and that he got to score some goals too. While playing the arcade games, they were earning tickets! Between the two of them, they earned 206 tickets! They had so much fun and once again we were all spoiled by Patty and Company! Thanks for the wonderful bowling date girls. We love you all so much and we are already looking forward to our next Wednesday-After-School-Date. You just let us know when!!