My Mom

I love my mom. She has always been there for me. And she continues to be an amazing person.

I was having a hard day today. We cant find the stupid key to our mailbox, my house is always messy, and I'm always worried about our financial situation. And as I'm about to have a break down in the grocery store, I received a nice phone call from my awesome mother, asking me if she and my nephew can come by tomorrow to hang out with us.

That is support. I love how much she loves me and I love how much she loves my husband and kids.

I love my mom.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Mula

Today I realized how blessed I am. Ok, fine, most days I have some sort of realization like this. Maybe someday the staying home part of my life will be a "normal" routine and I wont as often realize how special it is but for now, I dont take it for granted.
Anyway, back to the point...I was realizing how blessed I am as I looked into the hazel eyes of my chubby little boy's face. Money is going to be really tight these days and I am not always sure how things are going to work but every time I get fearful of the future and for a glimpse think about going back to work (I know, it's been 3 weeks, I'm so dramatic), something happens. Like today, when two people contacted me and need a babysitter for this week/next week. Oh the extra money REALLY helps. And I know I have days where I'd just rather be home with my kids and nobody else's kids but I'm trying not to be spoiled. When you pray for a way to stay home and people contact you about babysitting, you take the opportunity you've been given. At least I do. Or did. :)
Friday will be our biggest Suze's Daycare day yet (and no, I didn't name my daycare that...because I dont have a professional daycare so why would I name it?). Three kids besides my own ALL day long! Ranging between the ages of 15 months to 3 years old. Please cross your fingers for me. :) I'm sure it'll be fine and 1 one of the kiddos is not one of my normal babysittees so it wont always get that crazy here at my house.
I'm just nervous, that's all. Money was never really tight when I was working and we took a lot of money out of our budget when we decided it was time for me to quit. So I'm hoping we can make it work. I'm praying we can. But I'm still scared.
So that's where I'm leaving it.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Icky Feelings

Sometimes I just have icky feelings.


Do you ever have icky feelings?


Do you ever covet other people?


It's icky.


Don't do it if you haven't already.


And especially don't do it when you have such a great life, like I do.



So why do we do this? Covet other things or other people.



Maybe because this world tells us we need something bigger and better, someone to give us more presents and spend more and more money. The world tells us that money will bring us happiness.
I'm here to tell you the truth. Money does not bring happiness.

This brings happiness...

...and I created him. And he is mine. And he is my husbands. And with Petey, we are a family.
A happy family.

So please remind me not to covet.

Please tell me that a bikini body, flowers every day from my husband, and a million dollars would not bring me the happiness I want.

There are 3 people who surpass everything else in the world and bring me the most joy.

And that's how Suze sees it.

. 63+

I love her and I love him.

Life with a 2 year old and a 10 month old is ammmmazing. The good outweighs the bad by a million.

Last night, Petey and I sang songs until 11pm at night...I know you think we are crazy and maybe we are. She finally said to me, "Mommy, I'm tired. It's time for bed." And I layed her down and didnt hear a peep until 10:40 this morning.

My sister in law has really impacted me since she's been here (they moved from UT this summer). She said I was an example to her (I know, weird, right?) because I am not just home. I'm home with my children and have learned in the past week what that is really all about. Being home last week meant staying up late, sleeping in, eating whatever I wanted, surfing the net all day long, and having the tv on most of the day for my kids. Ok, maybe it wasnt THAT bad but it wasnt good. A couple of days into it I realized that being home with my children comes with much more responsibility than I've had at any other job. My kids need to learn and grow and thrive and if I'm sitting on the couch all day, what kind of an example am I being to them?

I think this awakening came last Wednesday, when I realized it was time to potty train Petey. That was a time consuming process at first. I cant believe it's only been a week because she is 100% "pee" potty trained. Still 1% on the poop aspect (as in, she just went poop on the potty for the first time today!) but that's ok. I'm not worried.

Ultimately, she is the one who completed the challenge but she couldn't have done it without help and I feel so lucky to be home so that I can be that person.

This is what staying home is all about. It's about being there when our children need us. It's about teaching them the things they need to learn to be appropriate, responsible human beings.

This is the best job in the entire world.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Ms Petey Swy

Ok, little girl, it's ALL about you right now. One whole blog post dedicated to my little princess, Petey Swy (as in, Sweety Pie switched up). This girl is a whole bundle of NEW these days. Life is full of more hugging, more kissing, more I love you's, more I'm sorry's, and lots more smiling! If only you could hear her sweet little voice...for now you'll just have to imagine.
I wanted to remember a couple cute phrases from this firecracker in the past couple of days so here goes:
I took Petey to the dr and when daddy comes home he says, "What did the dr say?" to which Petey replies, "He said no more monkeys jumping on the bed!"
Driving in the car on our way home the other night and she says to me, "Mommy, are you looking at me?" And I said, "No, 'Petey', I'm driving." And she says, "Mommy, are you smelling me?" It was so funny and random.
Tonight she runs in and says, "Oh no, mommy, I peed in my panties! I'm sorry." and before I can reply she says, "It's ok, it's gonna be ok." Apparently, she knows how stressful potty training has been for me.

And speaking of potty training, we are on Round 2, Day 3. Round 1 was a month ago if you'll remember and it didnt go so well. We decided to wait until I was not working anymore and see if it got better.

And guess what?

It did!!!

She seems to really be getting the hang of it and even the times she has accidents, she immediately knows to clean up and try again next time. She has stayed dry all 3 days except between the hours of 1pm-5pm, when she'll have 3-4 accidents. Is that weird to anyone besides me? That used to be her naptime during those hours and I'm sort of wondering if the two have any connection. I am so proud of my big girl. She is learning SO much and doing so many wonderful things. Hopefully this potty training continues to go well and we can be fully potty trained by next week---maybe that's too soon but I think we can make it happen. Between now and then, I just really have to stay on top of the laundry. :)

And that's the way Suze sees it.

Sneak Peeks

Since I am now a stay at home mom, I wanted to be more productive with my kids and teach them all that I can. I decided to make a "Days of the Week" chart to go up in the playroom so every day Petey can change what day it is. I laminated everything and decorated it with stickers from Grandpa's office. :) On the back of each day is velcro so Petey can change easily change the day of the week every morning. So far, so fun! Even though she doesnt get it yet, she has fun changing the day with help from mommy. Also, my awesome sister in law and I decided to do a homemade Christmas this year with our tight budgets. I thought I'd bring you a sneak peek of the presents for each of our kids. This is Petey;s sneak peek...can you guess what we're making?

And this is Spidey's sneak peek...any guesses? :)

For the last craft of the night, I cooked this one up today after seeing something similiar on Make it and Love it. It was supposed to be a giraffe...but I forgot to add the ribbon for the tail and mane. Oh well...it now resembles a lamb and Spidey loves it. I'm thinking he'll get something fun like this for his birthday...we'll see. :)

He knew just what to do with his new animal friend...

EAT HIM!!!

Day 3

Day 3 of staying home with my kids and two things have stuck out to me:

First of all, I didn't know two little human beings could wear me out so much! My 2 year old started potty training (again) today and I am so determined to find success this time around. Day 1 was today and she had 8 successes and 4 accidents...double the success! Hopefully tomorrow will be even better. My 10 month old is everywhere! He is into everything and is constantly keeping me on my toes. Along with making huge messes, he can flash the biggest smile Ive ever seen...so how could I ever stay mad at him?

The second thing I have noticed is that I am completely in my element here at home. My kids needed me and I needed them and now that we've made it all work, everyone seems happier. I am great at being domestic (besides the cooking part...any easy recipes welcome). I guess without sounding snotty, I just feel like I am good at being a mom. It isnt easy...but it's what Ive always wanted to be. These two beautiful spirits have been sent to my home for a reason and whatever we have to do so I can stay home, we'll do...because I now realize that is important. I dont always know why but I know it's the feeling I get when I'm at home all day long with them.

I thought it would be boring to stay inside the same 4 walls all day long but it's actually quite nice. I think we'll try and have many days where we utilize our home and find ways to get creative...and once it cools off, Im sure we'll be at the park most every day since Petey is already asking when we can go to the park again. Sorry, girl, I am not taking you to the park when it's 115 outside!

I love my new job more than Ive ever loved a job before.

And that's how Suze sees it.