Still Love 'Em

These days at the Hall house are long ones, indeed. This is definitely the hardest stage of motherhood I can remember. I can't really put my finger on why ... maybe the combination of ages, or perhaps our eagerness for summer to finally be here. I wish I knew the magic secret for how to discipline my boys and help them make good choices. I REALLY wish I could just say "Because I SAID SO!!!!" and it would be enough :) I remind myself often that I have good boys with good hearts, they just happen to be 2 and almost 4, and so I'm learning that we truly can't have anything nice around here. And that bickering between siblings is normal. And that I can't make everyone happy all of the time.

But ... I still love being a mom to these boys and I wouldn't trade it for the world.





Here's a few things to remember about this time for posterity's sake (both good and ... not so good):

1) Tanner gets in bed with us EVERY NIGHT. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. I usually let him crawl in with me, then take him back into his own bed a little later. But he always makes his way right back to us. Sigh ... Part of me wants him to stay in his own bed, but a bigger part of me knows this won't last forever. I'm trying to talk Jon into getting us a king size mattress so at least we'll have a little more space :)

2) Landon is still addicted to his pacifier. I know it's way past time to give it up. I always have some excuse why we can't do it, though. We have been traveling a lot lately and I just can't bring myself to go through a long road trip without the paci. The good news is that he can actually say "paci" now. :) Speech therapy is going really well and he is saying lots more words and can usually at least communicate what he wants.

3) Tanner is pretty much through with naps. In some ways this is good. He usually does a "quiet time" in his room for 40 minutes or so each day. He also comes down happy, which is a nice change from the cranky mess he's always been after waking up from a nap. The only problem is that after 2-3 days with no nap, he is a BEAR. Sometimes, I force him to take one, but then he is up until 10:00 at night. We're still trying to find exactly what works.

4) It's amazing how you can think a 4 year old is so smart! Seriously, I think Tanner is brilliant (because I'm his mommy and that's how mommy's feel ...) I'm always blown away by what he remembers and the things he tells me that seem to come out of nowhere. I LOVE it when he just talks with me ... definitely one of the best things about my day :)

5) When he's not getting into things, Landon is such a JOY. Truly ... that little boy has a sweet sweet heart and I can't wait to watch him grow and hear all that is on his heart and mind. BTW ... we actually had a successful and quiet trip to the grocery store last week, just the two of us. This is a HUGE deal. HUUUUGE. Yay, Landon!

That's all for now! I'm headed up to crawl in bed with my Kindle. Oh, I'm loving to read again these days. I can't believe I did without it for so long!