Mom-Life Update

Jack is 5 and started kindergarten this year.  He loves it and he’s learning so much every day.  He loves to play pretend and act out his days at school when he’s home.  It’s cute because even though I don’t get to see him at school, I get to see what his days are like through his play.  He is such a good big brother and I love seeing him help out with Anna. Jack’s latest interests are maps.  His favorite app on his iPad is Google Earth.  It’s amazing how aware he is of everything.  He can follow the roads from our house to any of our relative’s houses that we have visited.  He continues to amaze me with how smart he is.

Anna will be 18 months in a few weeks and she’s getting so big!  She is such a toddler.  It’s so cute to watch her walk around the house while hugging her stuffed animals.  She is super sweet.  She’s always giving us hugs and kisses.  She can definitely be a daddy’s girl, but she also loves to snuggle up with me.  She’s my little mini-me.  Her favorite things at the moment are shoes (not surprised since she hangs out with me all day), toothbrushes, and her stuffed animal Lamby.  She’s also talking a lot and loves to learn new words.

I don’t believe that there is any perfect age gap between siblings, but I am really loving the 4 year age gap that we have.  It’s not perfect and it’s still hard to balance, but it’s nice to have a child that is old enough to talk and be independent when needed while having a busy toddler.  They are still close enough to play together, yet far enough apart that I am not too overwhelmed.  The hardest part for me is balancing their separate routines.

They are both at very different stages too.  My challenges with Jack are so different than my challenges with Anna.  Anna is a toddler and has the occasional tantrum when she doesn’t get her way, but she’s super sweet and has a pretty easy-going personality.  She is into everything and needs to be watched 24/7.  Jack is more independent and he can be left alone to play in his room or watch TV and I don’t need to watch his every move.  It’s kind of nice.  However, Jack has his own challenges too.  He can have a 5-year-old attitude and he’s super stubborn.  It’s almost like they fill in each other’s gaps.

If you haven’t heard we are moving soon into a new house. (Read about it HERE).  We will be closer to our family, so we are looking forward to it.  I can not wait to move.  A lot has to be done before then and we are feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole process, but it will feel so good once we are settled in.  We have been living in rental homes for the last 8 years.  We haven’t felt settled because we never know what is going on with the bases at Kevin’s work.  I’ve always wanted a house that we could call home and there is something about this house that makes me feel like we are already at home there.  After Anna was born I felt like I had everything in life that I could ever ask for.  The house was the last part of the equation.  Our count down is on and I am looking forward to January when we can finally call this house home!

As much as I love sharing motherhood content, I’m constantly debating how much to share.  I have found recently that when you share yourself and your life so many people start to make assumptions about you that lead to judgment.  I can handle a few not-so-nice comments about my outfit choices, but when it comes to mom-shaming I really don’t have the stomach for that.  I see the types of comments that other bloggers and influencers get and it makes me a little apprehensive to share my kids on social media and the blog.  My personal pages are one thing, but with my blog accounts growing so much, I just never know who is seeing my post and making judgments.  I overthink everything I put out.  Will I be judged for letting my toddler watch an iPad?  Will someone judge me for vaccinating my children?  Will I offend someone if I talk about drinking wine in front of my kids?  I know I really can’t worry about what other people think of me, but when it involves my kids, my sensitivity takes over.

Luckily, I have only experienced minor mom-shaming on social media, so for now I will keep sharing.  Being a mom is a huge part of who I am now and I love that I can share that with my followers and relate to other mothers.  My goal is to always uplift other moms.  I believe that as mom’s we need to support each other, not bring each other down.  Motherhood is hard enough, there should be no reason why anyone should take the time out of their day to put someone else down.  Don’t we do that enough to ourselves?

The biggest lesson I have learned since I have become a mother is that there is no right way to be a parent.  You need to do what is best for you and your family.  You can’t let other people shame you.  Kids don’t come with a handbook and google does not have the answers. Trust me, I have googled every kind of parenting question you can think of and ultimately did my own thing.  Motherhood has its ups and downs.  It’s the hardest job that I have ever had, but every night as I kiss my babies and tuck them into bed my heart feels so full.