Total Boy

Playing with dirt... An couldn't be more content.

Humbled

Being a mother is many things, but the one thing I never expected it to be is humbling. Today I got smacked in the face with a big ol' piece of humble pie.

Sleep in the Grant household has been sparse. Baby girl is (what I am assuming) about to hit some developmental touchpoints, which often disrupt sleep, and this is no exception. Noah has been waking up before 5am every morning. We had a non-stop Thanksgiving, visiting family at different houses. And to add to all this, I've been sick. Needless to say, I am running on empty.

Today I really, really needed a nap. I put Noah down, then put Ruthie Grayce down. For the next hour and went between both rooms trying to get both of them asleep. Ruthie Grayce wanted to eat, Noah wanted to play. I finally got baby girl asleep, walked Ono Noah's room, and he was sitting in the top drawer of his dresser. Monkey!! I continued for the next 30 min walking back in his room, putting him back in bed without saying a word, and leaving. It wasn't working. I was so close to a nap, yet so... SO far away.

I finally decided to go in his room and try to rock him to see if that would settle him down. I got him in my lap, he lays his head on my chest... Then bites me. I lost it. I grabbed his wrists (way too hard), grit my teeth, yelled "Do NOT bite momma!", picked him up, and pretty much threw him in his bed. I immediately started crying. I got in his face, yelled again "You do not do that ever again. You're a bad boy!", walked out of his room, and slammed the door shut.

It took me all of about 2 seconds to realize I completely screwed up. I felt horrible.

I immediately went back in his room, and the look on his face will be stuck in my mind for a long time. He looked so... Disappointed. Sad. Hurt.

I knelt down next to his bed and apologized through my tears. I explained to him that it was wrong of me to lose my temper. That it was wrong for me to yell. And that he was not a bad boy. I emphasized that it was not ok to bite momma, and that he should never bite anyone because it hurts them, but that even when someone hurts you it's not ok to act mean back to them. I have no idea how much he understood. He looked at me, said "no bite momma!", and started crying. I asked for his forgiveness, and he gave me hug. I picked him up, went back to the rocker, and rocked him to sleep.

Losing your temper with a 2 year old.... Apologizing to a 2 year old.... Asking for forgiveness from a 2 year old.... Is humbling. Realizing that a 2 year old can have so much power over you that you lose it is humbling. Having the 2 year old climb up in your lap only minutes later forgetting that you had wronged them is ridiculously humbling.

It made me think.... Am I this forgiving? Do I forget the wrong as soon as the apology is made? Nope.... No where close. Humbling.

I haven't fully processed what the Lord has to teach me through all this, I'm sure the lessons have only just begun. Luckily we all got a little sleep, and I'm in a much better frame of mind this evening, and I'm hugging my little dude a little tighter. He's got a lot to teach me, too.

Clowning' Around

This is what happens when your 2 year old finds his Halloween costume.... Brunch in the costume it is!

Halloween!

I am not sure why, but this Halloween brought me more joy than I can remember having in quite some time.  This is the first 'holiday' (if you can call it that) that I think Noah actually got it.  He dressed up in his Uncle Buck's costume from when he was 2, over 30 years ago!

Ruthie Grayce dressed up as a lady bug... she was pretty lovable, I must say!

I wasn't quite sure how trick or treating would go, but he loved it.  We trucked over to the Hill's and headed out pretty early (6:00... the kid's bedtime is 7:30!). 

Evidently that's uber early in the trick-or-treat world.  The first 3-4 houses we went to no one was home. Sad day!

Hoping to boost moral, we switched directions and headed the other direction.  Pretty sure the first house we got to answer the door was a sweet old lady who had nothing but a bowl of unwrapped candy corn... and pretty sure we let our kids take a handful.  Definitely file that one under "things I swore I'd never do"!  But, we had to let the boys have some success!  N thought it was awesome and consumed more sugar there on the spot than he probably has his entire life!

He may have been the only not-even-2 year old in town that had no problem going to the door by himself, saying the obligatory "tickateet!", then saying "day-doo" after scoring some loot with very little promptint from the adult audience.  I was really impressed. 

Ruthie Grayce was unimpressed.... she slept through the whole thing.

I loved seeing my litte dude be so independent, so confindant, and so brave.  Love this kid... and he loves his suckers!

The
xoxo,
~The Grant Gang

Fall Fun!

We have finally had some beautiful weather and it is starting to feel like fall.  After the hottest summer on record in Texas (don't think I won't be reminding sweet little Ruthie Grayce of that when she is 16 and sassy...), the change is very much welcomed.

Lolly and I treked out to the Dallas Arboretum with Gara and her clan to bum around and see all the "punkins".  Let's just say that it was Noah's heaven.  And that I am glad Lolly joined us :-)  I saw many moms flying solo with multiple kids... one even with triplets Noah's age.  I almost asked them what they were on and if I could have some... I'm not that brave! 

For most of the time I had Ruthie Grayce strapped to me (she hates the carseat... boo!) and chased after Noah trying to snap a picture that was actually in focus.  I took about 200 pictures and about 50 are in focus.  Ha!  Wish I could bottle up his energy for when he is a teenager and doesn't want to get out of bed in the morning.  When I tried to take pictures of Ruthie, she wasn't exactly.... thrilled. I did manage to get one or two smiles out of her, but the rest of the pictures are just comical.

Looking at the pictures of Travis and Noah together make me giggle. They are SO polar opposite. Luckily they still like eachother :-)  Travis gathered several pumpkins and made his own little photo-op in the middle of the walkway. Noah thought it was more fun trying to balance on top of them and feed Travis his snacks.

Noah also had his first experience getting his fance painted.  I was SHOCKED at how still he sat. He was so interested in what was going on! 

It only took about 4 seconds to get a few smudges...!

xoxo,

~The Grant Gang

Quiet Book Swap

A Quiet Book example

For you moms on Pinterest, have you seen the Quiet Books floating around?

Quiet Books are these awesome books made of felt with a simple activity sewn onto each page. Kids can tie a shoe, learn to count, works snaps, play with zippers, fiddle with buckles, sort colors and match shapes.

There's a great introduction to quiet books at How to Make a Quiet Book.

I would LOVE to make one of these but am a bit overwhelmed at the time it would take to create all of the fun pages. So, why not host a swap and hopefully cut down on the cost and workload?! And, it will be just in time for the perfect Christmas present.

A quiet book pages swap will work like this:

Each participant will make 20 (or less, depending on how many people sign up - we will cap it at 20) of the same quiet book page. Hopefully this will streamline the creating process and save money on the cost of materials. We will then get together and swap all of our pages until we have a fun book filled with awesome quiet book pages.

We have pre-chosen 20 different pages to ensure that there's a variety. We've tried to pick pages that teach a concept or can be played with creatively so that there's something for the child to do on each page.  (We may choose to just assign a skill, rather than a specific page, to allow some creative liberty.  Those details will be given after people sign up!)

**NOTE: All pages do involve some sewing and ironing fusible webbing.**

Want to participate?

1. Email me (kristagrant@gmail.com) by Saturday, November 5th and let me know you'd like to sign up. Please let me know if you're comfortable with sewing a more intricate page or if you'd prefer something straightforward and simple.
2. We will then assign everyone a page. We will be emailing you with your specific page, instructions and links to any directions/templates to help you along.
3. Everyone will then have about a month create their pages. We will be getting together some time at the beginning of December to exchange our pages.  Specific date to follow.
4. Out of towners are more than welcome to participate - you'll just have to cover the cost of shipping & handling via Priority Mail.

**This idea is taken from Still:Living

xoxo,
~The Grant Gang

Quite the fashion statement!