A bit of everything...
Wow. So it's been a hectic few months!
Recap:
Recap:
- Traveling to Grand Rapids area for Thanksgiving to see Adam's uncle from Australia and a big portion of his mom's family.
- Our oldest turning SIX!
- Visiting my brother's family in Cheboygan.
- Christmas.
- My in-laws visiting for 2-1/2 weeks.
- My Sister-in-law's wedding.
- Teaching a class at a conference.
- Last vacation for while.
Adam listed all these things off because he was thinking "Whew, now we can breathe" then quickly realizing there'll be a baby here next month! It never ends, lol.
So the Great Wolf Lodge: so many things, so little time, space or energy to write about it all. Our room was nice, the kids didn't have any major meltdowns (yay for us!), they had fun, Avi still napped and they slept great both nights. We made it through crazy snow on the way up there and back home through back roads that looked like this for 64 miles:
THANK GOD FOR SNOW TIRES! |
Anyone who knows me knows these kinds of things turn me into a big stress ball who is no fun to be around. Sunday was looking the same way, I was overwhelmed with all there was still left to do and making sure we didn't forget anything. I prayed and prayed a lot that I could really just relax and go with the flow so I wasn't miserable the entire time. It worked! I had to remind Adam a couple of times that we were on vacation and that this and this was just not worth getting upset about. I let them drink way too much juice, chocolate milk and eat way too many snacks. Who was I?! I kept it together until we decided to try to go to the waterpark the day we were checking out and tried to pack up by check out time at 11. Overall, I'm glad we hit it up one more time but it was definitely stressful!!
I did learn some lessons on this trip. On Monday, Bri did the Jr. Lifeguard training. There was a mom there really just harassing her maybe 8 year old daughter about going to join the class, why didn't she just go, why did she sign up if she wasn't going to do it, talking to her husband about how she didn't have the patience to deal with that child, telling the girl she wasn't going to go to the waterpark today if she didn't join in. Basically, embarrassing her child and herself. You know what stung though?? I could totally see myself doing the same.exact.thing. What a slap in the face that was! I know I have acted that way before but actually seeing it and how terrible that girl must have felt but also empathizing with that mom's frustration, left me pretty conflicted.
If I've learned anything about being Avi's mom, it's I can't force her to do anything. I had the will and energy to fight with Bri about eating, doing things she didn't want to do, potty training, etc. Not to mention the fact that Bri and Avi are 2 different people. As I sat there listening to that mom, I thought to myself, I'm glad I know that if that was Avi, if she didn't want to do it, there wasn't any way I was going to make her. That kid is so sure of what she wants sometimes that it can be pretty frustrating! She has taught me to follow her lead. Does that mean I let her walk all over me and don't have any expectations of her? No, absolutely not. Kids still need discipline. I feel like I've just learned to let some things go. Potty training? She'll let me know. She doesn't want to eat dinner? It won't last forever. I'll keep introducing things to her and someday she will try them and can decide from there. She lays herself down for naps because she knows herself well enough to know when she's had enough.
I don't know how long this more patient and understanding mom will be around but I know I'll never stop trying to be the best mom to my kids that I can be. It will look different than what you think a good mom would do or say but that is ok. I'm the mom my kids need me to be even through the good, the bad and the ugly. We are all learning and growing! You do you, I'll do me.
Thanks for reading!
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