MM // life lessons at the berry patch

Over the weekend Amy and I took the kiddos to the berry patch. It was a beautiful and blustery day.The blueberry bushes looked like they needed a while but the strawberries (or as Lilly says, "strawbellies") were perfect. Amazingly ripe and juicy. Delicious.  

I even learned a little lesson at the patch. (hint: Frankie says to do it) More then once Lilly picked a green or overly ripe strawberry. I kept my eyes on what she was putting in her basket, making sure they were perfect, since I was paying for them after all. But after a little while I realized that I wasn't having any fun! I was so focused on getting the "right" strawberries that I was missing all the sweet moments taking place in front of my face. So I decided to RELAX and enjoy the experience I was having with my daughter and our friends. Life is so much more then having the right strawberries. While a ripe berry is delicious- it's important to enjoy the picking too. 

♥

Mommyhood Monday // No to no!

Hey! No making faces!!

As a mother of a toddler I find myself saying the word "no" more then any other word in the English language. (That may be inaccurate but let's just go with it.) Naturally, I can be a controlling person. I like things to go according to plan and I like to do what I can to make that happen. I didn't even realize this about myself until I became a mother and had a little creature at my sides all the time trying to derail my plans. As you can imagine- adjusting to motherhood took some time. To be honest, I am still adjusting!

 One major adjustment for me has been learning to say no to no. It is usually the first thing out of my mouth when Lilly asks me a question. But I have realized that I really need to question my motivation and think about her request before saying the N-O word. I've found that a lot of times I am simply saying to because I don't want to do what she does. I don't want to paint right now. It's too messy. It requires too much set up and clean up. I don't want to go outside because I don't want to find her shoes (and pants) and have to chase her around. I don't want to let her walk at the grocery store because she is more likely to wander off my desired path. I realized that a lot of times my motivation for for saying no was straight up selfish and silly. And it turns out sometimes we have way more fun when I say yes! Sure, I may be more tired at night (at least I don't have trouble falling asleep) or have more to clean up or take 40 minutes to do something that should have taken 10 but in return my little girl feels loved and has possibly even learned something. 

Saying no to no has honestly improved our day to day life. Sure, saying no is still a very necessary part of parenthood but I want to embrace those moments when its not. Why not say "yes" when I can!? We fight less and hug more. And that is definitely worth losing a little bit of that control I love so dearly.

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Resilience

If I recall correctly this photo was taken during Lilly's second time out of the day. It was definitely before 10am. 

One of the hardest things, for me, about parenting is the sheer tenacity you must have about discipline. There are so many times that I don't want to tell Lilly no because of the impending fight it will cause. The fact that I choose to use the word fight shows a lack of resilience on my end. There should never even BE a fight. I am the parent! It isn't like she has a valid argument: 

-No, Lilly, you may not have M&Ms for breakfast.

- But mama, I need M&Ms. 

-No.

-WWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I have read that toddler-hood is all about discovering boundaries and the role of the parent is to enforce these boundaries. It can just be tough, you know!?! Some days I don't want to have to tell her 45 times to not stand so close to the TV or to be the one who says no to sugar upon sugar upon sugar all the time. Some days I just want her to be happy with me all day and not think mama is a meanie. And sometimes a break is necessary (for example- the other night I dreamed that Lilly died and was really shaken up by it. The next morning I ran very late to church because of how long I sat and snuggled her in front of the TV.) BUT- I have to keep in mind the my goal in parenting is to raise a well adjusted, responsible, adult. Not an adult sized child. Therefore- I will continue to tell her no even if it isn't fun for me. I will continue to be the bad guy because I know she will love me for it in the future (Like when she has broken the habit of sticking her fingers in her crack all day long. She would not be a happy middle schooler if she couldn't help sticking her hands in her pants when she got nervous.) 

So a word to all the other toddler moms out there:

WE CAN DO IT!

No matter how much they fight.

All day, every day.

I promise.

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Friends

photo stolen from Amy

Can I just say how happy I am to have this girlie as a friend. Mom friends are so important. I know that may sound silly but it is the truth! 

Amy (of Buggie and Jellybean) and I met through instagram. Soon after I found out that she lived semi close to me and our internet romance blossomed. Amy is an amazing mom and super creative. We finally met up (at Target. Ha!) and hit it off. We have the same sense of humor and have kiddos that are the same age. Nolan and Lilly are so cute together and Nolan's big sis, Avery, is pretty sweet too. 

We hang out with our kiddos but occasionally have girls nights too. We had one last night. We tried a new (to us) Vietnamese restaurant and spent the rest of the night messing around at Starbucks. Girl time honestly refreshes my soul. We talk and laugh and share frustrations. When I was a new mom I had zero mom friends. Trust me on this one- having other mom friends is necessary. You know when you have those days when you think you may actually loose your mind? They've been there. Or when you are crying in your kitchen because your kid just threw the second lunch you prepared for them on the floor. They've been there. They understand and encourage. They are a blessing and a half.

I'll say it again- I am thankful for her and our friendship. 

♥

MM // Potty Training

Whoa. It's almost been a whole week since I blogged last. That is the longest I've even gone since I started this blog almost a year ago. What have I been doing you ask? Potty training and reading The Hunger Games series. Between the two of those things I hardly had time to breath let alone blog! I have lots of thoughts on THG but will save those for another post. zxxxzxzxxzxxzxXxjnmkml,........ (that last little bit was from Lilly.)

Potty training has gone remarkably well. We tried a few months ago and it was a disaster. Everytime she sat on her little potty it ended in a fight so, after my doctor's recommendation, we decided to wait. Let me just say waiting was one of the best parenting decisions to date. She has taken to it this time like a fish to water. Well, almost. Last Monday we went straight into big girl panties which she got in her stocking. She only had one accident on Monday then continued to go in the potty pretty consistently. She had one nap time accident so I decided to do training pants during sleep times which has been great. I think she only had 3ish other accidents after that. Pee Pee accidents, I should say.

Pooping has been a whole different story. She didn't poop at all Tuesday though Saturday. I knew she was just being stubborn but was fed up so I filled her up with apple juice and fiber filled cereal and that did the trick. She pooped on the potty once. Since then she has been very inconsistent. She poops a little on the potty but most of the big turds are reserved for her panties. It is sad/hysterical. It's like she can't feel it coming and then starts to panic. Full on high pitched screaming/immobility while clutching her butt. Haha. Hopefully she resolves that soon!

As for me, potty training has been easier then anticipated. I am naturally a worry wart. I was so full of anxiety about this! It certainly has been a learning experience. I have mostly learned to laugh more. I thought I would freak out over accidents. I was not looking forward to cleaning them up but it really hasn't' been a big deal. We even had once accident at the Goodwill that was my fault. She told me she had to go and we made it to the bathroom but I didn't pull her panties down far enough and put her too close to the edge of the seat so her pee when up and over the edge and into her panties. Amazingly, I got a good laugh out of that one. I have been so laid back! Who would have thought. ;)

Overall, we are happy and she is happy. She loves her panties which are Minnie Mouse, YGG and Tangled. She picked them herself. The lesson learned is that you can't rush potty training (oh, and that mom should relax). As a friend of mine told me, "When they're ready- they're ready."

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Christmas Presents

Christmas 2010

Christmas and kids. This is kinda a hot button issue with me. These days kids get a lot of crap toys for Christmas. Where do you draw the line? How much is too much? I don't really know the answer to these questions but I can tell you what we are trying to do in our home. 

Lilly usually gets one big gift (and by big I mean in size, not dollar amount) and then a few little things. Last year Ben and I (err... I mean Santa) gave her a tent and some blocks and... I CAN"T EVEN REMEMBER! That kinda proves my point though doesn't it? I can't even remember what we gave her that isn't pictured. She also received Christmas presents from her grandmas and aunts and uncles so she still had more then enough when all was said and done. I guess what my point is (since I haven't really stated it) is that as parents we should teach our kids that their are more important things this time of year then getting the newest toy. If we always get them the latest and greatest (and lots of other stuff too) aren't we setting them up to become greedy and/or materialistic? In the end gifts are fun but they aren't really important (I mean, sometimes we can't even remember what they were). Instead I hope to teach Lilly things like generosity, the importance of family and tradition, and what real joy is like. 

I certainly don't have it all figured out. She may be too young this year to grasp concepts like generosity but by setting a standard she will grow to understand when she gets older. My prayer for Lilly at Christmas time is that, in the new year, she will have a renewed spirit and joy. That she will be even more in love with her family and that she will understand that real and lasting happiness comes from the ones you love and not from what is under the Christmas tree.

♥

Mommyhood Monday (on a Tuesday night) // News

Here is a special message from Lilly:

Could you understand that? It's the real reason I've been to sick/tired/slacker blogger... 

Little Miss Lilly is going to be made a big sister in June! We are so excited! I've been trying to remember to get a cute video of her saying she would be a "big seester" for a while but you know what they say about baby brain. She asked about Emily (my SIL) in the video because we facetime with she and the rest of Ben's family a lot. I love her uber emo reaction to me saying no. That is kinda the norm around here these days. Silly girl. Anyhoo- I am almost out of my first trimester so hopefully things will be picking up around here. I'm super happy to finally let the cat out of the bag because all day long I want to tweet/post/ig etc. about having zero appetite or a weird craving or whatev. So expect that now too. Eep! 

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Friends

I got this look from Lilly over the weekend and realized that I will FOR SURE being seeing it more and more as she gets older. The look clearly says, "Ok mom! (sarcasm) What ever you say, mom. (more sarcasm)." And while it is still cute at this age it is a good reminder that even though I sometimes wish Lilly thought of me as her BFF that isn't really how parenting works. 

Even at this stage in her life, I feel like all I ever say to her is no. "No! Don't eat that twig!" "No you can't play with that knife." "No ma'am, you may not feed your dinner to the dog." But that is my role for now. And even though it isn't my favorite role she has to understand that there are rules and boundaries. I also want to make sure that she learns to respect authority and to take direction. I have to remind myself that I want to raise my child to be an adult. But you know what?!? Sometimes it sucks! I get so sick of saying no all the time! UGH! That is part of the reason why we do things like paint in the tub because I want her to associate mommy with fun occasionally too. Can you say mommy guilt?

I thank God that I have such a smart toddler but for crying out loud could she stop looking for every loop hole to the rules I lay out for her. 

Turns out this post is more of a little therapy session for me then anything else. So... thanks for letting me vent.(insert awkward laughter here...)

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Noodle Nose

Hey Friends! If you follow me on IG or twitter you probably already know some of these things but, you know what? I'm going to talk about they anyway!

First, yesterday was my birthday! I spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family. I have eaten a lot of pizza and there is more left over in my fridge. I am a happy lady. 

sleeping with noodle in nose = snoring baby

Secondly (and really more importantly), Lilly sucked a noodle up into her nose last Thursday night. I don't know how it happened, I wasn't in the room at the time, but when I came back she was wiping she was wiping her nose fiercely. We thought she may have just got some garlic salt up there (it was on her noods) so I shot some saline up there and had her blow her nose and she seemed mostly better. As the night progressed though we noticed her nose was running a lot and that she was still uncomfortable. Welp. After closer examination- we saw the noodle. Long story kinda short- I called friends, looked online, tweeted about it and checked her nose over and over before deciding to try and get it out. We could see it after all. Well, the noodle was too soft and we couldn't get it with tweezers. That was good and bad. Bad because I couldn't pull it out but good because I knew it would continue to get softer and come out on its own. A few people advised that I take her to the emergency room. I didn't feel super comfortable doing that not being sure they would be able to pull the flimsy linguine noodle out so I decided to wait until morning. (didn't I say long story short...) She did eventually sneeze it out. It was gross. She was relieved. and now she talks about it all the time. "There a noodle in my nose. All gone." 

Happy noodle free girl. 

To be honest with you I almost rushed her to the er. The stress and anxiety I was feeling over that silly little noodle wanted me to use any means necessary to get it out of my life!! Oh, and out of Lilly's nose. But, looking back, I'm glad I didn't. I am a worrier by nature and I do feel a little proud of myself for letting nature run its course without having to put any more pain and discomfort on my daughter. So my words of motherly advice are these: A small noodle will probably come out of your child's nose on its own. Thankfully, God made our bodies work so that they can deal with those sort of circumstances. Phew. 

MM // Halloween

EDIT: I had to change the title of this post because of the amount of traffic it was receiving from people google searching "dirty moms". Yuck.

Happy Halloween!

Ha. Just a word to the wise. Don't google search "dirty moms." Let me tell you a secret. I hate to get my hands dirty. I know, I know- what a priss, right? It's embarrassing to admit but I will go to great lengths to keep my hands clean. I have gardening gloves, kitchen gloves, bathroom cleaning gloves. I will use multiple paper towels to clean up anything I deem gross... which is a lot. I just really dislike touching things that are squishy or wet or that will leave a residue on my hands. Which you can imagine has been a bit of a struggle for me as a mom. And like I said... I dislike this about myself. So, over the weekend a took a BIG step (for me). 

That's right! I cleaned a pumpkin. I touched all the gooey guts and pulled out all the seeds. It was kinda a big deal for me. I don't want to pass on my ridiculous dread of dirty hands to Lilly. I was pretty proud of myself. ;)

ps- have you entered the lost cabin vintage giveaway yet? It ends tonight!

Mommyhood Monday (on a Tuesday) // Halloween

Over the weekend we went to the zoo and unbeknownst to us they were having a Halloween event. The parking lot was full of kids in costumes and Lilly was not. I panicked for a minute. Then I felt like a failure of a parent for another minute. Then I put on my big girl pants and got over it. Lilly was wearing the bunny hat I made her so that was something.

she was very concerned about the sad ghost.

She had a blast and got some treats but can I be honest? It stressed me out! I am stressing about Halloween! I feel a certain amount of pressure (as I'm sure a lot of moms do) to come up with something  spectacular and then to make it myself. But you know what? I so don't think that's going to happen. And we are coming down to the line here! Halloween is one week away! I'm stressing. (did I already mention that?) Yesterday I even went to Target and walked down those torn to bits aisles to see what was left. Pretty much squat. There were some cheerleader costumes or generic princess costumes but they were so expensive (for a cheapskate like me). $20+ for a costume of something she doesn't know/care about and that she will only wear once, and for only like 2 hours?!? I couldn't do it. So here we are. A week before Halloween. No costume. No real ideas. Nothing. 

I will probably just throw something together this week. After looking back at the photos from the zoo I'm thinking about just finding a matching pink tee and leggings and throwing a cotton tail and whiskers on the girl and calling her a bunny. Does that count as hand made?

MM // That time I cried my eyes out at Disney World

Last Wednesday we took Lillian to Disney for the first time. We weren't sure how she would respond since her only other interaction with people in animal costumes had been the Target dog and she was terrified of it. But I think the pictures really say it all. She had an amazing time. She loved everything about it and only got a little scared during Mickey's Philharmagic. 

I, on the other hand, could not keep myself together. I cried while we watched the Dreams character show, I cried when we met Rapunzel (she hugged her and said "I love you 'Punzel." How could I not?!?), I cried when we watched the parade and I cried when we met Mickey and Minnie. They were all happy tears though. It's amazing how emotional becoming a mother can make you. I mean, I was emotional before, but now it's out of control! I just imagine what it must be like for Lilly to see Jessie and Woody walk by during the parade and then hear her squeal "Jessie! Jessie!" and I am so overcome with joy that I cry.

Being a mom is pretty awesome. You get to relive all of the greatest moments in life. 

♥

MM: Too much fun

Happy Monday friends! I'm just stopping in real quick to say I'm having too much fun with my little family today to do much blogging (or clean my mirrors apparently). I hope you are having a fabulous start to your week!

♥

ps- Ben has had lot's of random days off this past week and continues his weird schedule into next week. This had made me question every single day for the last week what day it is. I even had to do it when I was thinking about Mommyhood Mondays today. But, don't worry, I figured it out. It is actually Monday. 

MM // Attention Span

Things I learned from watching this video (a bunch of times because, let's be honest, she's cute):

1. I assume that Lilly doesn't get a lot of things because she doesn't repeat them immediately. Not true. We hadn't sung that song in weeks! And she just whips it out while watching Toy Story 3 and playing with my old Polly Pocket Camper. 

2. A two year old's attention span is about 5 seconds. Lilly was really enjoying that movie until I started singing. Then she was really enjoying singing until the door on the camper popped open. Then she was consumed with the door. "Oopsies. Oopsies. Oopsies." Then it was back to Toy Story.  So I officially need to take a chill pill. There are so many times when I have to repeat my self to Lilly and then get full on mommy rage because she isn't listening to me. Well, perhaps she is listening to me for the next 4 seconds of that toddler moment and then its gone and so is the notion that I said "no". Does this mean I should stop reminding her that I said no? Probably not. She will learn eventually and I want to be consistent. But I do need to stop letting myself get upset. She is just two years old for crying out loud. Chill out Sara!

3. I need to make more effort to put clothes on my child. She wears nothing but a diaper pretty much the whole time we are at home... I'm lazy. 

Is she cute or what? Maybe I'm just a little biased. 

♥

MM // Perspective

It's funny how becoming a parent changes your perspective. 

On September 11th 2001 I was a Sophomore in High School. I was in math class when we heard about the attacks. My teacher's cell phone went off in the middle of class and we all started giving her trouble about it until we found out what was going on. The details have become a little fuzzy over the years but I remember standing in a small crowded class room watching live when the towers fell. 

A few weeks after the attacks my class was going on a trip to Washington DC and I was one of a few kids whose parents didn't let them go. I remember being very upset. I'm sure I threw one of those "Why are you doing this to me?!?!? My life is so unfair!!!" tantrums. And I thought my mom was over reacting.

Then I had a child of my own. Not only do I see my mother's intentions in a whole new light but I'm pretty sure I would have made the same decision. 

♥

ps- sorry mom. :)

MM // Lovies

Meet Lion. Super creative name, I know. Lion is Lillian's most favorite lovie. (A "lovie" is something, can be a blanket or toy that you child chooses as a security blanket.) But Lion is not Lillian's only lovie. Let me give you a little back story. 

When Lillian was a few months old my mom was feeding her when she noticed Lilly liked to hold something in her hand while she ate. My mom suggested we get her a blanket or the like. I had read in baby books about lovies and my sister (who is a pre school teacher and knowledgeable about all things kid related) told me it was a good idea to choose Lilly's lovie for her and then get several of them. I loved this plan especially since I'd had several encounters while working at Target that went like this: 

guest: Excuse me. Do you still carry the baby doll that looks like this one but has brown hair and a purple shirt?

me: Oh, I'm sorry. We don't. That doll went clearance before the reset. This is the updated version of that doll. 

guest: OMFG! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME? That was my baby/grandbaby/niece/nephew's favorite toy! He/She can't sleep without it and we lost it!!! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!!!!

So I took my sister's good advice and went to Target and bought three (yep) pink elephant blankies which we dubbed Ellie. (Another creative name. I must be blowing you mind right now.) Ellie is one of those little blankets with an animal head on it that is soft on one side and silky on the other. Lilly loves anything silky so Ellie was a huge hit... until we went to Minnesota. Lilly's nana bought her a lion, at the thrift store no less, that was soft and silky. Now, Lilly had been attached to Ellie for several months at this point so I wasn't even thinking that this grimy little toy would come mess up my good plan. But of course life never goes the way you plan. Lion came home, cleaned up nicely and quickly kicked Ellie from the top lovie spot. NBD I thought. Lion is a Gund brand toy. I'll just go onto their website and order another. Nope. They sell a similar lion but it's the updated version and slightly different then Lilly's. Of course. 

Thankfully, we haven't lost him (yet. I pray we never do!) and they have become BFF. Sometimes the cuteness is almost too much. Lilly as started to say things like "I love Lion." and (about lion) "We love eachother!"

So, my mothering advice to you: try to pre pick you child lovie and then, for the love of God, don't ever buy or accept anything that is even a little similar to it! 

You're welcome.

♥

Mommyhood Monday // ...

I am drawing a complete blank today. I have absoluetly nothing to say about motherhood. Nothing good or bad. I simply love my little girl and she loves me (most of the time). Now I am off to spend some more time loving her and hopefully will have something more substantial to post tomorrow...

I can still claim baby brain for this, right?

Mommyhood Monday // Dislike

Fact:

Some days your kids just don't like you.

The other day I wanted to take some cute pictures of Lilly and I in front of our chalk board wall. She wanted to hit me.

I explained to her that hitting makes mommy sad.

We got one mediocre photo. The set made my husband laugh. Such is life!

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Yelling

Last week was not so great in the mommyhood department. Lillian has been flexing her ever growing independence muscles and my resilience has been slowly but surely wearing down. Well, on Thursday last it happened. I really lost my temper. I have been very close to losing my temper with Lillian before but it has always been at home so I can excuse myself to another room and calm down (pillow punch). But this time we were in the car. We were so close to home... here is what happened:

the calm before the storm.

We were headed home from the gym and Lillian asked (and asked and asked and asked) for some apple juice. I wanted to get some coffee also so I thought about stopping to get something. I went back and forth about whether to go to Starbucks or not. My budget conscious guilt was flaring up so I decided I could make coffee at home and that Lilly could have juice from home as well. When we were almost home (and Lilly was screaming and crying "No home! Apple juice!") I remembered that we had two redbox movies that had to be returned. I changed my plan. I could stop at home, get the redbox movies and drop them off at 7-eleven where we could go inside and get a more cost friendly frappuccino and juice box. Perfect! I got the movies, we went to 7-eleven and I opened Lilly's door to get her out. I started digging in the diaper bag first to get my wallet when it hit me. My wallet wasn't in there. I took it out yesterday for something and didn't put it back. Blerg. As you can probably imagine, Lilly didn't take to kindly to me not unstrapping her after I had promised apple juice and then closing her in the car. To make matters worse we had to drive past a chick-fil-a (another place that Lilly is used to getting juice boxes from) to get home. Lilly was throwing an almighty fit.  I wanted to get her apple juice (and myself coffee). That was the worst part. She is old enough to understand when I say "Yes, apple juice." but not "I forgot my wallet, I can't get it for you but I wish I could." After trying to calm her down and telling her that she could have some apple juice at home it happened. I slammed my clenched fist into the center console in the car and yelled "ENOUGH! NO MORE CRYING!" ugh.  She was silent for a minute then we both starting crying. I felt like a complete parental failure. 

When we got home I gave Lilly a juice box and put Barney on. I made myself some chocolate milk and had a much needed break. Thankfully Ben had the weekend off too so he spent a lot of time playing with our little love. I had lots of free time and even had some girl time which I am so grateful for. I think sometimes, as a parent (or just a person in general), we need to step back and take a break. Take a bubble bath or a nap. Have a warm cup of coffee or a cool mug of chocolate milk. And always remember this.

I am praying for a better week this week and cherishing the sweet bits in between the toddles moments. Remembering above all that He will never give me more then I can handle. 

♥

ps- Do you have a good mommyhood story or piece of advice? Email me at the.prairie.hen[at]gmail[dot]com and be featured on Mommyhood Monday.

Mommyhood Monday // Father's Day

Ben is a wonderful father. I feel so blessed that he is in our lives. It brings so much joy to my heart to see he and Lilly interact together. She loves him and he loves her. 

We had a good father's day. Ben had to work in the morning so it was just the girl and I. We ate breakfast and then hit up Target for a few things (to which she cries "no carget no carget") and then went to church. Ben got home a little early (woot) and got extra play time with Lilly before her bed time. We had a slow cooked bacon wrapped pork tenderloin for dinner (drool) and gave daddy his present: a new fancy iron. I know this sounds like a strange present but my hubby loves to iron. When we got married he registered for a fancy iron which we got so then he went out and bought me a cheap iron so I wouldn't have to use his fancy one. ha. 

On a side note: I have to call Ben "daddy" all the time now when Lillian is around. She heard me call him Ben once or twice and has started to use his name instead of daddy. I think its super funny. He does not agree. 

Anyway, over the weekend I read this post from Rachel over at letters to ames and it really resonated with me. This part in particular:

"There are few skills in the domestic world that are strictly maternal.Things like birth and breastfeeding, or supersonic hearing, or mother's intuition - these are forces of nature not to be challenged. Moms were simply made for these things. But bathing a baby? Doing the dishes? Changing a diaper? Even holding a baby? These are learned skills. Someone taught us these things - maybe our mothers, or a friend, or even a labor & delivery nurse. Anyone can learn how to do these things, no matter the gender or the age or the amount of previous experience. 

My point is, we shouldn't elevate ourselves to the point of making men feel incapable of caring for their own children. I've done this without even realizing it. One time, Ames fell down in front of Chris while they were playing. I rushed over to pick up my boy and comfort him. Chris stopped me and scooped him up. He said something along the lines of, "Don't do that. Let me handle this. I am his father." So simple. He is their father. It took the two of us to create them, and it's going to take the two of us to raise them. It's become clear to me that the more I intervene and take over, the more likely I am to push my husband away. In return, I will become bitter & resentful when he doesn't help out more. This will most certainly cause a rift in our parenting relationship, and the relationships he shares with our children - a rift that might become irreparable if it grows too wide."

How incredibly true this is? I know for a fact that I do this all the time. I become to anxious/nervous that something will happen to my baby that I don't want anyone (including Ben) to take care of her. Talk about trust issues. Not only am I not trusting Ben, or who ever else is caring for Lilly, but I am not trusting God either. No matter how much I love Lillian, He will always love her more. 

The point is that your child's father is just that, their father! They love them as much as you do and care about their safety as much as you do. Let's give dad some credit. *points finger at self*

Did you have a good father's day?

♥