Hard Days, Long Nights, and Moments of Pure Happiness!

I recently heard or read something that was along the lines of, "parenting has more times that are hard but there are good moments that make it all worth it." I have been totally feeling this lately as I adjust to taking care of a two year old and a 5 month old. Lincoln is learning a lot of new words everyday and is mimicking everything we do. Good and bad! I definitely need to be more careful about what I say and have been recommitting myself daily to being more patient. It is really hard for me to be better at anything when I am not getting good sleep. Lincoln goes to bed around 10:00-11:00pm. Yeah...we started that bad habit. The baby is usually asleep no later than 9:30pm but wants to be up and greet the world around 7:30. I hate getting out of bed before 9am which is typically the time Lincoln will roll out of bed. The baby has been waking up LOTS of times during the night and making it so hard for me to get a good stretch of sleep. I usually get around 3 hours from 11:30-2:30 then 2:30-4:30am then he wakes up every hour from there until 7:30am. He did just get his first tooth on the bottom left and is working on the bottom right breaking through. Since Vance refuses a binky it makes it really hard to soothe him back to sleep without holding him. Another bad habit in the making. Due to the fact that we have renters living beneath us, I try to keep Lincoln and Vance as quiet as possible at night leading to all these bad habits. Vance tends to wake Lincoln up in the middle of the night due to crying which just adds to the problems. Let's just say the baby stage is not my favorite...I like getting closer to the toddler stage so that the kids aren't dependent on me for every little thing.

 Vance has been a pretty good baby but has become a terrible sleeper. The last week and a half we have all had this head cold/sore throat out of nowhere. The first night it set in I held Vance upright in the rocking chair all night so he would sleep and tried to keep his nose clear. It was one of the worst nights I've ever had in this parenting experience. The next day was even worse trying to care for a boogery toddler, a sick baby, and myself-sick and sleep deprived.  We made it through but I'm still getting very little sleep which I hope is due to the baby getting teeth and not a bad sleeping habit. I hate trying to sleep train and have had to do it over and over with Lincoln. So these days I'm tired and currently trying to come up with a strategy to get the boys to sleep better so that I can get some much needed sleep for my sanity.  

At the beginning of July I was sustained in the LDS church as a Relief Society President over an elderly apartment complex of about 35 women. It has been a really great experience for me and I have loved visiting with all of them and hearing their life stories and testimonies. The only challenge is trying to find time to make visits, hold meetings, make phone calls, etc. There are a lot of phone calls with crying children in the background, lots of emails and lesson prep with one or both boys on my lap, and meetings cut short due to fussy boys. So many people in the ward have been willing to take Lincoln for an hour or two while Vance and I go around making visits. Some days Sheehan has a break in between work and can help with the kids or let me take a nap. Thankfully business is still going great so that allows me to be home and able to serve in this capacity and be with the kids. Although, being a 24/7 Mom has been the HARDEST job I have ever had. As much as I hate waking up everyday to clock in at a job, it is also hard to never be able to "clock out" from being a Mom. I hear this time goes by fast, and they grow up quickly, so I should enjoy this time. I remind myself of this during my moments of frustration and impatience multiple times a day. 

Vance learned to roll from back to front at around 3 months old. He doesn't roll from front to back very often. According to pediatricians they are supposed to roll front to back first but both Lincoln and Vance were opposite in this area. Vance is starting to sit up for a few seconds at a time and loves reaching for things. Sometimes he reaches and pinches Lincoln which then is followed by a, "Hey Baby!" from Lincoln. Those are the moments of happiness.

We are just hanging on the couch, watching Word World probably...eating Otter pops. I rarely wear makeup these days. One sign that I am really "giving up." haha

This was a very good moment. I was in heaven enjoying my baby snuggle time. I just wanted to rock him like this for hours. It was so relaxing and Baby Vance is so sweet. 

Lincoln has started jumping over the baby which is quickly followed by some discipline by Sheehan or I. He has also started laying on him and sitting on his head. He thinks it's funny until he gets caught. 

These slides are at the Museum of Curiosity in Lehi. It's been super busy when we go there so we end up playing on the not so busy outdoor playground. We like to walk the children's garden and play in the splash pad too. It's a great place to go and tire out Lincoln boy. 

Baby Vance is growing up fast. He is getting stronger, and more giggly everyday!

I love this picture of me and the boys. Lincoln is so silly and baby Vance is clearly enjoying whatever is playing on tv. haha This was a good moment just playing with and holding my boys. 

Lincoln love his new car mat to "drive" his toys cars around, park them, line them up, crash them into each other. He loves it!

I had to write about this bat picture. After we held our Relief Society meeting at the "complex" we noticed this little teeny bat sleeping on the partition. The ladies shooed us out of the room and called maintenance. Turns out they had about 30 or so of these little guys stuck in the building. Later that evening I had a well-meaning sister call me very concerned about this bat situation asking if there was anything I could do (a little out of my realm of responsibility) and warning me that I should be careful of bats in my house.