Some days...

You just have to realize that you are not getting the mom of the year award. Today was one of those days for me.

This morning while Cian was brushing his teeth and hiding behind the shower curtain he found my razor. (Yep, the one that was just sitting on the edge of the bathtub with easy access). Well I guess he thought it would be fun to brush his teeth with the razor because when I "found" him his lip was bleeding. I am not talking busted head open bleeding but it was red. Way to go mom, let your kid play with razors.

I was reminded again this evening when Cian ate a hamburger bun with peanut butter on it for dinner. Yep, I need to go to the grocery store that badly. He did eat it up and seemed to enjoy it. In my defense, when we have burgers he only eats the buns. I just skipped the wasted burger part.


We ended the night watching Despicable Me again. I let my son stay up till 9:30 again as well. I don't feel so bad about this one, I love snuggling on the couch watching a movie with Cian, especially on nights like tonight when I know Steve is working late and it is just the two of us.

What is the moral of the story you ask? Well, it is that our lives are not perfect. I am not super mom nor will I ever pretend to be. Some days I am just thankful that I had a hamburger bun to feed him and that the razor didn't shred his lip too much. I am also thankful that God listens to all my parenting questions. I do have them pretty frequently.

So next time you feel like all the other parents have it figured out remember that they don't. (Ok, can't speak for everyone but remember that I don't). Most people are just grasping at straws and learning what to do. Oh and a lot of prayer. (Please Lord help me not to kill him, sorry Lord that I just yelled at him, thank you Lord for this sweet miracle, thank you Lord that he just shared without being asked). For all the things we do wrong we do things right. I was chosen to be a mom, Cian and Isla's mom, for a reason.

Cian and Olivia at the playground

Tummy Tuesday: 32 weeks

32 weeks. That means 8 weeks to go. Did you just say 8 weeks, two months?? I better get busy on getting ready for this little chick to join the George's. At this point she will have a bassinet to sleep in, clothes to wear and boy receiving blankets to be wrapped in. The essentials are here so we are good right? (Poor second child). I have a couple showers next weekend so we are planning to start her room the following weekend. Provided she doesn't show up super early we should be finished.

If I was smaller with this pregnancy for awhile I have totally caught up in the last few weeks. I feel like I have doubled in size and I think I am definitely close to where I was with Cian. I love feeling Isla moving around a lot and knowing she is safe in there but I do not love the quick 6lb weight gain or the "You must be ready to pop" comments. Yes, I do look like I could give birth any day now but I still have two months to become even more enormous so please don't remind me of just how big I am getting. At least this time I do know that the weight can be lost. I also know that my stomach will still never be the same and in fact, might be worse off than before. That is totally worth it (most of the time). What I don't know is what it will be like to try to exercise with two kids in tow instead of one (double jogging stroller here I come). Will I be able to get up and run at the crack of dawn like I do now? Can I run another marathon next year? I know for the the first few weeks/months I will be too much of a zombie to even think about losing sleep for exercise but I also know that my family will fall into a new normal and a new routine faster than I can imagine.

For now, I am just trying to exercise to curb the weight gain from the 500lbs of candy and sweets I am eating. I am also trying to enjoy the last months of feeling a child in my stomach and being a vessel for the life that God is molding and preparing. The kicks and rolls and punches going on in my belly mean a baby girl getting ready to meet the world and her family. I can't wait to meet her but I don't want to rush her. Despite the fact that I can't sleep though the night and can't bend over or balance myself while shaving I am enjoying knowing that my little girl is getting close to coming home. This could be the last time I experience pregnancy so I don't want to skip this phase but cherish it.

32 weeks with Isla

32 weeks with Cian

Hallmark Moments Between the Milestones Tour

About a month ago I got an e-mail from Hallmark about my blog. I initially thought, me, are you sure you have the right Becca George? I mean my mom doesn't even read my blog on a regular basis! But they had details from my blog, this very blog, so that kind of confirmed that they meant me. Anyway, they were inviting me to something called Hallmark's Moments Between the Milestones tour. It is a tour to promote their "Life is a Special Occasion" tagline. Showing that it's not just the big things but the every day things that are moments to be treasured. I was really excited to be able to go

The event was in the morning in downtown Nashville. I have trouble getting to work seven minutes away on time so I knew Nashville might be a challenge. Amazingly I left with plenty of time and didn't hit any traffic until I got to downtown. I actually passed the diner where the event was with about five minutes to spare. Then I was presented with a small hurdle, parking. I parked safely at a meter on the street and realized that I didn't have any cash to feed it. I contemplated risking a ticket so I could be on time somewhere for once but decided that might not be the smartest move. I got back in my car and headed for the closest parking garage. I might add that these parking garages have to bring in what Disney does for parking in a day. Their sign may as well have said your first born child under the price. Ok, well maybe not that steep but it was $12 to park for two hours. Holy rip off batman.

Once out of my car I headed to my destination. I was greeted by a very upbeat guy and a very yummy looking breakfast. They sure do know the way to a pregnant ladies heart! They also gave us a t-shirt and a card with some of the key words we use on our blog. There was a photographer and two writers from Hallmark there to speak to us. They had made a video with moments from each bloggers life and showed us the video. (It was super cool and is posted below). We heard moments from each one of the speakers and then we were able to tell a special moment of our own. I contemplated on telling something mushy or sweet but then decided on something closer to real life, Cian's potty training setback. Yep, I told a room full of strangers about peeing all over myself. We were able to spend some time with the photographer and the two writers. It was really cool to listen to each of them. We did a writing exercise, which will show up on the blog very soon.

It was so awesome to be around a room full of creative women and to spend some time focusing on writing and exercises. I was a creative writing minor in college and that is what I have wanted to do since third grade so it was nice to be forced to focus on writing. There were a lot of great bloggers there (I know because I blog stalked them when I got home). After reading their blogs it left me inspired to spend more time on mine. I mean, they were all kind of a big deal and little ole me was just happy to be counted in their ranks.

There was some Q&A and then it was time to go home. The event was two hours and I was honestly sad it was over! They did't send us home empty handed, we left with a bunch of cool stuff! I mean I am stocked on Hallmark stuff. I would love to spend more time with the blogging community and build my blog more. I guess that will go on the to do list...

Making Room...

We were busy busy bees last weekend moving our bedroom from the old room to what used to be our computer room. Our house is not very big, ok it is downright small. I love our little house, I love that it is us and that it is the first house we bought after we were married, it is where we brought Cian home and now it will be the house where Isla will come as well.

Our house is a two bedroom that could be (and now is) a three bedroom. It was build in the 50's so there is not a whole lot of closet space. What did people do then?? Our clothes are in the closets in Cian and Isla's room and the one in our computer room has some of Cian's clothes, a dresser, games and miscellaneous stuff. The good thing about not having storage (or closet space) is that it makes us have to downsize. Either that or we have one messy house.

We didn't just move the room but took that time to get rid of some stuff and re-organize the closets that had become kind of a mess. We also took the changing table out of Cian's room and put up a new organization thing (technical term) for his toys. It was time for that table to leave him room, he only used it to climb up on these days. We did the moving and setting up over the course of two days so the night between our house was a disaster! We tried to make this fun by all sleeping on the couches and letting Cian sleep on a futon that as thrown in the living room. We had a family sleep over and watched a movie in response to our house being in disarray.

Cian sleeping on the futon

New organizer for toys

Yet again I failed at blogging and didn't take photos during the process but here is the finished product (well finished for now):



We still have work to do like painting, getting some pillows and an area rug and eventually laying down new floors. I also want to refinish the vanity and dresser. All those will have to wait until Isla's room is finished!!

Tummy Tuesday: 30 Weeks

Sunday marked 30 weeks. I feel like this means we are getting really close! Just 10 short weeks to go before I am the mother of two babies. Isla is growing and all the third trimester side effects are taking hold. The ones like being tired again (mainly from not being able to find a comfortable position), swelling, yay and constant urination. Steve said I talk about peeing a lot, maybe that is so because I have an almost potty trained kid in the house and I just happen to pee all the dang time. In this trimester the peeing is from a certain tiny baby someone pressing down on your bladder.

I am notorious for sneezing and peeing on myself (as I have mentioned). This is one of my lovely talents. the other day Cian and I were sitting on the couch and I sneezed. Well a little dribble of pee came out, nothing crazy. Then I felt another sneeze coming on. This I knew meant full on urination was following closely. As the sneeze started coming I

jumped up and ran for the bathroom leaving trail of pee in my wake. I started cleaning myself up and Cian busted in the door with his arms crossed and in an "I'm getting someone in trouble" look on his face. He promptly projected, "who peed?" A moment of semi-panic struck. How do you explain to a two year old who gets in trouble for peeing his pants that you just peed your pants? He said, "Did Speedy pee?" I was very tempted at this moment to blame that urine spot on the couch on our poor unsuspecting dog. The easy way out parent in me said, do it but the good parent said no, you gotta fess up to weak bladder. At this point I just told him, "nope, mommy peed".

Just about that time Steve came in to see the wet trail leading to the bathroom. With a bit of chucking he explained to Cian that mommy peed in her pants because she has a baby in her belly. Now why didn't I think of that? He seemed to accept this and went on about his business. The minor panic had been for nothing. I went on about cleaning up our floor and couch and reminded myself to go to the bathroom every five minutes whether I felt I needed it or not.

30 weeks (yes, there is a stain on my dress)

30 weeks with Cian

A Day in the Life

Ok not a typical day but a typical day off work. I am off on Sunday and Monday so I have one day off with the other 80% of the working world and then a day to get stuff finished. I actually love my Monday's off. I can go shopping when there isn't a huge crowd, I can go to some things for parents and toddlers during the week and during the summer I can hit up the pool when it isn't as crowded.

Here is a typical Monday with a wild child boy depicted by photos (and some commentary):

Wake up, eat and play with toys. it is so fun to listen to him pretend with his toys and have them talk to each other. Most of the time they just say "I got you down" because most of the time they are in some sort of duel.

The aftermath of a battle

After playing and running errands it is time for some pool action. It is so stinkin hot that if we are going to be outside the water is the best way to face it. It is also a good way to ensure Cian will take a nap. Yep, I have ulterior motives.

You really work up an appetite swimming so some chicken tenders (and a slush) from Sonic are a must. The only downfall is that there might be a few sets of dog eyes watching you. This is the "Mom, they are trying to eat my chicken" face. If you are lucky one of the dogs will snatch a chicken tender and you won't have to eat as much.

Nap time is a must, even if someone insists they are not tired. That someone is never me. I can always manage to fall asleep. After nap time anything goes, we might just turn into pirates.

Pirates can't have fun all the time, the evening is for going to the gym, dinner, baths and all that fun necessary stuff. I love my Monday's with my little man!

Mommy Monday: I forgot

When Cian was an infant I didn't think I would ever sleep again. I also didn't think I would forget the love and pure relief of seeing the sweet face of your baby or elation of holding your sleeping baby or the exact moment he rolled over the first time. In a sense I haven't completely forgotten but some of these things are beginning to get hazy. I really told myself, treasure these moments and don't forget because they will soon be gone. They are gone and guess what, I forgot.

I watched a video yesterday of a couple who had a brand new baby and it showed the baby in the hospital and them holding the baby with such huge smiles on their face. First, this was pregnant girl suicide and a surefire way to get the tears flowing. Second it just brought all the emotions and feelings from the hospital and those precious first few weeks/months rushing back. It did inspire me to think about all the things I forgot...

I forgot:

• How it felt to have that little body thrust on your belly for the first time. What it was like to see the face I had been dreaming about for months finally in front of mine.
  
• The movements of a newborn baby as they adjust to their new world. The dark close comfort of the womb taken away and a huge bright new world awaiting.
• The crying on the monitor or the lack thereof. The waking up and looking at Cian just to make sure he was breathing.
• The first baby laughs.
• The quiet still times nursing my tiny baby.
  
• The food all over the walls.
• The "how many times can I drop this toy and have you pick it up" game.
• The wide open mouth baby kisses.
• The smell of a newborn, so close to God.
• Cian's little baby hand patting my back.
• The first I love you.

There are so many things that we forget but each moment with our babies of any age is precious. I am holding tight to each phase because this too will be gone and I will forget.