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Never listening to my husband again!  Having kids close together so they go through their phases close to each other is not a good idea at all, honey!  Good thing we are not having any more kids!  Oh my goodness, so my son is about to be three and my daughter is about to be five!  What I am about to be faced with is going to be insane!  A five year old who likes everything done her way and a three year old who wants to do everything by himself and have all the attention!  WOW!  Not ready for a five and three year old!

When my husband and I started talking about having our second child, I told him I was not ready for another little one.  Our daughter was still battling reflux and not sleeping through the night and the thought of having two little kids waking up constantly during the night just didn’t appeal to me!  But, he prevailed and now we have our wonderful son.  But, neither child sleeps through the night and both have gone through the hell known as reflux!  Whether it’s a nightmare or a wet diaper, they are up and down all night long!  I told you honey!!!!

Our daughter was horrid during her three’s!  I have tried to suppress those memories of her during that year!  Now, I’m faced with our son going through that phase!  Oh, man….maybe he’ll be better!  All I can do is try to be as understanding as possible, take deep long breathes, and spend plenty of time out of confined spaces!  Right now, he’s in the jumping phase!  Anything this boy can climb on, he is going to jump off of with amazing air time!  He has never had a fear of anything and that scares me!

Our soon-to-be 5 year old, is a whole other story!  I have no idea what I am going to do!  She already talks like a grown-up and tries to act like one too!  She already wants to put on make-up whenever she leaves the house.  Oh, she has a little boyfriend!  Yes, she is four and already she has a crush on a six year old!  When we tell her we are going over to his house, she has to plan and coordinate her outfits, she has to paint her nails to match her outfit, and she has to wear her hair down!  We are going to be in so much trouble when she is a teenager!

No matter when we had a second child, there would always be a phase they are going through.  Kids move from one bad phase onto the next phase that’s going to drive me crazy!  And, even though they drive me crazy sometimes and our house is always a mess and always chaotic, I love my children and my husband with all my heart and wouldn’t change a single moment with them.  My husband and our kids are without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me!

I have come to a realization that my daughter is just like me!  It’s absolutely terrifying the first time you look into your child’s eyes and see yourself!  She was having one of her “I’m right and I know I’m right and you’re wrong and I know you’re wrong” arguments with me, then I got a cold chill down my spine and realized I had this exact conversation with my parents when I was 16!  Wow, she’s advancing fast and I’m completely at a loss as to what to do!

You have to understand something; I was a good little girl growing up, until I made it to High School! For most people that know me, they find that hard to believe!  But, seriously, I was a little angel as a child.  Then hormones and the idea that I knew everything and there was no one, especially my parents that could tell me anything!  Well, minus the hormones, she is me!  She is ALWAYS right and there is nothing anyone can tell her to make her change her mind because once she has it in her head, it is written in stone!

It’s so frustrating to raise a strong-willed child, when you are a strong-willed adult!  It’s hard to tell her how to control herself, when there are MANY times; I have no idea how to control myself!  This is a project we have to work on together and I have no idea where to start!

So, now what do I do?  How do I help this little person try to understand and control what she’s feeling and saying, when I’m still trying to understand and control it myself?!  She is so strong and smart, and I do not want to do or say anything that will crush her wonderful outgoing personality.  So, what do we do because it’s not just her that needs the help?  We both have to figure out how two strong-willed girls can live peacefully in the same house!  Poor Daddy!

Okay, I know I’ve written about my crazy family and all its insanity, but I wouldn’t trade places with anyone.  I have an amazing husband, even though he drives me crazy sometimes, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  We have been married for a little over ten years now and every day I love him more.  I could have never imagined 11 years ago that I could ever feel this way about him or anyone else.  We can laugh, cry, scream, and fight, but at the end of the day we find ourselves in each other’s arms completely and madly in love.

Our kids are the craziest kids I know.  They are exploding with energy and tend to break important valuables in the house (doors, computers, and toys, anything they can get their hands on!).   But, when I look at them, I am blown away.  They are the most beautiful little individuals, and I am not just saying that because I’m their Mom.  They really are beautiful!  The absolute best is when they climb in your lap and ask to snuggle.  Or they climb into the bed in between my husband and me, and snuggle up close and give kisses.  I just wish I could keep them this way, but I know they are growing up!  One of the hardest parts of my day is telling my daughter good bye in the morning as she’s getting on the bus.  Seeing her sitting in that big girl bus and watching her blow me kisses from her window seat absolutely melts my heart!  And, I know pretty soon, she’s not going to want anything to do with her Mom!  I love picking up my son from Mom’s Morning Out because whatever he’s doing, he stops and runs to me saying, “Mommy!”  I pick him up and he snuggles right in giving me kisses and holding on with all his strength!  My little man!

Yes, with all the insanity that goes on in my family, at the end of the day, we are all full of love and there is nothing better than that!

The coffee is not working anymore!  My house is a wreck as usual, the laundry is piled up as usual, the kids are fussy as usual, and they aren’t sleeping as usual!  You’d think I’d be use to the insanity but instead I just feel overwhelmed.  That is such a powerful word, isn’t it?  Overwhelmed.  Let’s see what good ol’ Mr. Webster has to say about the word.

“Entry Word: overwhelm

Function: verb

Meaning: 1 to subject to incapacitating emotional or mental stress <just the thought of how much work there is to do overwhelms me>

Synonyms carry away, crush, devastate, floor, oppress, overcome, overmaster, overpower, prostrate, snow under, swamp, whelm

Related Words deluge, drown; confute, defeat, refute; demoralize, distress, disturb, rock, shatter, stagger, unman, unnerve, upset

2 to cover or become filled with a flood <that spring the massive runoff from melting snows overwhelmed the valley> — see flood”

That is a powerful definition and pretty much exactly what I’m feeling!  Wow, ‘incapacitating emotional or mental stress’!  Nice match!  Didn’t really know it was going to be hard raising children!  They are these helpless individuals that need you for guidance in all aspects of their little lives.  They look to you for the answers to all their questions, the big and small ones.

As parents, we tend to forget that our kids look at how we handle every situation in our lives.  They see how we react to certain problems and they start imitating our reactions!  We are the ultimate teachers in our children’s lives.  We are responsible for helping them express and control their feelings in a positive manner.  We are their role model, want it or not, it’s what we are to them.

I guess that’s why I feel so overwhelmed.  I always question myself as a mother, whether I made the right decisions, did I say the right thing, did I pay enough attention, and did I do something wrong?  I think I am the hardest person on myself and I need to keep in mind that all parents make mistakes!  That’s how we become better…learning from those mistakes and leaving them in the past! Maybe once I put my own words into action I won’t be so overwhelmed!