Life with a 5 Year Old

Gracie has been 5 now for a month and a half. All I have to say is Holy Heck, what happened to my sweet little girl?  Seriously, our sweet little girl is now showing her not so sweet self lately. Now most of the time she's good. She's great at school and good (majority of the time) when we are out in public. But when we are home, the wrath of Gracie has come out.

She may look sweet and innocent but let me tell you- if this is what her teenage years are going to be like I am SO THANKFUL WE ARE HAVING A BOY AND NOT ANOTHER GIRL! I think God knew just what we needed and could handle :) Especially me!

As we go through the process of raising a 5 year old we are learning too. I am with her the most because now my afternoons/evenings are spent with her right at my side. Kelly works late and tutors in the evenings so she's attached to me. Even when he does come home she stays at my side.  My many years of teaching have given me prior knowledge on this. I had many  parents that could not believe how good I said their child was when they said how awful they were/are at home. My thoughts were maybe they are so good during the day at night they take it out on Mom. Maybe this is what is happening here. Not sure. She's just really into getting her way and wanting what she wants, when she wants it. I feel like all day I'm saying "No,!" and "Stop that." and "You are going to time out"- all day. She's been more in time out the past few months then she has her whole life. She pouts, whines, and does not take my first or 30th "NO" for an answer.

My realization is that she needs more discipline. It's very hard not to laugh at her when she says something naughty or does something bad. It's just funny. We don't know where she comes up with the stuff she does and says. Kelly and I don't always agree on parenting ideas either. I tend to be the one that disciplines her because I"m with her more.There are times when she's full of sweetness. She gives me 10,000 hugs a day and kisses my belly at least a dozen times a day. She has a very sweet, innocent side.

Don't get me wrong, I love my little girl to pieces. She makes me laugh, smile, and sometimes cry! I'm glad she has a personality and knows what she wants. I'm happy that she loves life and can show all kinds of emotions. I just wish she'd learn to control her emotions and learn that NO means NO!

I love you Gracie! I sure hope this is just a little phase and you are testing your Mommy to see how much I can take. But you are wearing me out girl!

Mommy/Gracie week

I've been hanging solo with my girl for the past 5 days. Kelly took a trip up north to visit family.

Mostly Gracie has been good. She has tested my patience a few times!!!

Friday GG took us to out to eat at our favorite place.


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Then we did some shopping. Where's Gracie???

That night I got to have dinner out with Nicole &; Miss Sydney came to babysit!

We had Maxum over to spend the night.








We did frozen yogurt, swimming, &; played at the park late. They did great together!




I caved the last 2 nights & let her sleep with me. It went ok. Her body is like a little heater & she likes to sleep right smack next to me!




We did lots of shopping trips & baked some brownies.

Lots of swimming! She swam several times at GG/Pops.




All clean after her bath. She actually picked out a sweet night gown.









Lots of mommy/Gracie time! We are soaking up our last few carefree summer days. Tears.


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Happy Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day!! This was taken at Sunday school this morning bright and early. I try and be as loving and sweet to Gracie as my Mom was to me. It sure isn't easy. (I don't know how she did it!!!!) It takes constant patience and most days  after teaching kids all day I have very little for Gracie at the end of the day:) I'm working on it! Happy Mommy's Day to all the wonderful Moms in our lives and my wonderful Mommy friends!

Mother’s Day 2011

I hope everyone had a great mothers day! I had a great one too! GG and Pop got to keep Gracie Sat. night so Kelly took me to the movie grill. (My fav. place to eat pizza and see a movie.) And we got to see a grown up movie. No kids flicks here. I hadn’t seen a movie in the theater since Tangled. We saw…

I thought it was so, so good and was so happy! We hardly get to see movies and most times they end up being terrible. This wasn’t, go see it!

Mother’s Day morning I got to sleep in until 8:30 and it was so wonderful! No one pulling on me at 6:00 telling me it was a little bit light out! We went and picked up Gracie, had lunch out at Chili’s and then came home to watch the Mavs sweep the Lakers!!! Then last night Kelly grilled out burgers. Yum. I didn’t take ANY pictures yesterday. I did tell Kelly that I wanted a good picture of me and Gracie. On Friday after school we went to a newly developed neighborhood that has a pond and trees so he snapped a few of us. I told him he needs to learn a few tips on taking pictures. Most of them had us cut off or he would just take the picture before we were ready! I had to doctor them up a bit but here are some that turned out cute… (I had to tell him exactly what to do and how to stand/kneel but these were the few that came out decent!)

Gracie did really good and there are several that I like and can frame!  A funny story, Gracie had to all the sudden go potty. We were out in the woods sort of so she almost had her 1st potty experience out in the woods. She got stage freight though and decided she didn’t have too. I was so thinking someone was going to walk by on the trail and see our stark naked daughter!!!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Gracie LOVES her babies. So much in fact that I was wondering or trying to remember when it started. It started around 1ish. She got some cute babies for her 1st birthday. She already had my babies

See, cute uhh? She started playing with them and kissing them and it was all so cute.

As she grew, her obsession grew a little more and babies started sleeping with her and then she started diapering them, feeding them, and babies when ANYWHERE she went.

And pretty much EVERY SINGLE PICTURE I take of her she’s either holding a baby or the baby is just to the side of her.

 

She goes through baby phases and likes one more than others then it switches. For the last few big holidays she asked for a new baby. And the tradition continues. She’s already hoping the Easter Bunny will bring her a new baby complete with diapering table station. I hate to break it to her but the Easter Bunny is going to be flat out of babies this season But all this baby talk made me think where this all came from. How did she get to be like this? And then one day Gracie opened up a drawer and screamed for me to come in. This is some of what she found ….

                     and it all made sense….

              Sorry, pictures of pictures…

 

Me and Paddington Bear (still have him)

In this baby carrier is the baby brother, baby sister that Gracie now has and takes everywhere!

Ha! Look at our groovy wallpaper in our kitchen. Can you tell it was the EARLY 80’s

My 1st cabbage patch!

Almost every picture of me I’m either holding a baby, or have a baby in the background. Like mother, like daughter

My Sweet Love

Daughters are angels sent from above to fill our heart with unending love.
Author Unknown.

A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer.
Author Unknown

Poor Gracie doesn’t understand why her Mommy is sick and can’t get out of bed. I’ve been making a point to drag myself out of bed when I hear her and Kelly coming in so she can at least see me. Here are some of the things she’s said to me lately.

G: Momma? You feel better Momma?

Me: Yes, I’m feeling better (even though I’m lying!)

G: I love you Momma. as she pats my hand

then later…

G: You sick Momma?

Me: I’m sick now but I’ll be okay. I just need to rest.

G: (coughing) I’m sick too Momma. I stay with you too. I’m not feeling very good either…

She may not look like me but there is a very special bond between us that words can’t describe. I love you Gracie!!

Stopping to Smell the Roses…

              or cut up the fruit salad!

As a mom, just like most, I can get caught up on trying to get stuff done fast that I have been forgetting to just stop and relax a minute. From the moment I had Gracie, EVERYONE has told me to enjoy my time because it goes by so fast. I never knew how fast until I just blinked last week and we now have a 3 year old…

So tonight I was trying to make dinner for me and Gracie and do it fast so things could be done and lately she has been all about helping me. But sometimes her little hands just can’t do what I need done or I know she’s going to do it wrong and so I say “no thanks!” But then I get that guilty feeling and I feel bad. So I was cutting up fruit and she was just determined to help. She even went a got her butter knife and pulled up her step stool. So tonight, I said “Yes, help me please!” and stopped for a minute just to take in the moment.

She was very good at pulling grapes off their stem and tossing them into the fruit salad.

I could tell she was loving to help me and I know I should be thankful for the help and let her because when she’s 15 I doubt I’ll get any offers from her!!!

I love you Gracie!! Thank you for being such a sweet girl and helping Mommy in the kitchen :)

I need to also stop and savor these sweet moments more from Gracie because her sweetness has been few and far between lately. (Yikes)

Happy 10-10-10 day :)

Helping Mommy

The other day Gracie came to me in the kitchen and was looking pretty bored.

“Whatcha doin’ Mommy?”

“Making spaghetti. Want to help?”   “Yesssss!”  “I do it, I do it, all myself.” (her favorite phrase these days)

She knows her drawer in the kitchen with ‘her’ things!

Gracie loves butter. I mean, LOVES butter. Plain Butter.

Yes, she did stick that wad of butter in her mouth. I told you she loves it. See.

Here she is saying “look at my mouth!” Followed by “see Mommy, it does not hurt my tummy.” We had told her if she eats butter it will hurt her tummy. She’s going to prove us wrong on everything!

Followed with laughter from her and this “I’m a stinker, Mommy!”

Back to making spaghetti. She did butter, salt and garlic the bread. She helped me stir the noodles in the water too. What a good helper. What’s better than helping to make spaghetti? Eating it!!

Having her help me that night is something I will never forget. I took the pictures just to have to remember the little things from her. Just her and me in the kitchen laughing and laughing. My sweet little girl!!