Categories
On My Mind

Emotional Parenting

Guys, I have become so emotional since I gave birth to my oldest.

Before kids, I would pride myself on my ability to leave emotion out of EVERYTHING. Nothing bothered me, I rarely cried, and I would laugh during moments when I should have been sad or at least a little bummed. I don’t know why I thought this was a good characteristic of mine, but I really thought it was great.

Fast forward to pregnancy and I was emotional. Not TOO bad, but bad enough that it shocked me. I cried over swollen ankles, broken sandals, and ice in my drink. I thought that was bad.

Then, I gave birth. The moment he was born I was overwhelmed with emotion. That part I expected. What I did not expect was to be overwhelmed with emotion ALL THE TIME about EVERYTHING. Breastfeeding made me emotional, bath time made me emotional, cuddling and kisses made me emotional. Obviously, I wasn’t sad all that time (I did suffer from PPD but that’s a different issue), but I was feeling some bittersweet emotions. I loved my new baby so much that everything made me cry. Tears of joy, tears of pain (breastfeeding), tears of amazement (is that even a thing? I think for moms it is). Seriously, everything.

I thought this emotional stage would pass once the newborn stage passed. I was wrong. So, so wrong.

I cry when I see something I relate to (like this post from Creating a Mama), I cry when my kids learn something new, I cry when I think about how big they are getting, I cry when something makes me happy. STILL. Years later, and I am still an emotional mess ALL THE TIME. I cry when I don’t even know the people involved in an incident or when someone that I barely know posts on facebook that they had a death in their family. Oh and today I cried when I noticed that Peyton forgot his lunch at home and I couldn’t make it to his school before lunch started, even though I am fully aware that he will get lunch at school and be completely fine.

Where does this come from? What happens in a woman that turns her into this emotional mess all the time? Am I the only mom that is like this?

Sometimes I wish the emotions would go away but at the same time, I like to be aware of how a situation is making me feel. Before I was a parent, my mindset that nothing could bother me was probably unhealthy and I feel like I never connected with anyone on an emotional level.

My kids amaze me and I just can’t believe how much they are growing. Pretty soon I will no longer have a “baby”.. I actually technically already don’t. Liam is a “toddler” but he’s my baby. I look back on pictures from when my kids were newborn babies and it’s so bittersweet… take me back for just a day, please. Let me hold my infant in my arms and nurse one more time. Let me rock my baby to sleep and spend hours staring at their tiny little face.

The emotions don’t end after pregnancy or even after the newborn stage. At least not for me. Now I’m emotional for every milestone, no matter how tiny, for every time my littles are hurt, for everytime my big kids are left disappointed or sad… and for a million other reasons that don’t make sense to me.

Parenting is a rollercoaster, that’s for sure.

Categories
Our Family Printables Weekend Wrap-Up

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday!!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. We tried to just relax as much as possible because last week was such a long, busy week for us.

Relaxing when you have five kids is a little different than relaxing with no kids, however, so we still stayed a little busy.

Friday we had doctors appointments for the kids, but after that, it was pretty chill.

Saturday morning we hung out at home and spent time together. Later we dropped Peyton off to spend time with his mama and then went to the train station in our town to take pictures before Nevaeh’s 8th grade formal. The train station is beautiful so it was a good spot for pictures.

When we got done there we took Nevaeh and her date (her boyfriend, but Chris doesn’t like me to say that) to the dance.

When Nevaeh got home Chris, Nevaeh, and I watched YouTube videos of Conan O’Brien and Kevin Hart driving around with different people in the car… it was pretty hilarious.

Sunday we went to the Rose Parade. Chris wasn’t thrilled but he’s a team player so came along anyhow. He actually ended up enjoying himself, so that was a bonus. LOL. Liam LOVED all the cars and trucks. He wouldn’t stop saying “ca” and when there were no cars that he could see he would say, “all gone!” and get squirmy again until the next wave of vehicles came. It was adorable. Sylas liked the firetrucks and police cars, and Josie liked the horses. I think she liked the horses, it was really the only thing she paid attention to other than the candy being thrown her way. She didn’t want to talk about anything but the candy after we left. I think candy being thrown at parades should be banned… lol. I’m totally kidding but my kids brought home SO MUCH candy.

Watching a parade is on our Summer Bucket List so the kids were excited to put a check mark next to it afterward. If you want a copy of our Summer Bucket List or if you want a template to write your own list, click on the link and download my free printables. There are 5 of them so you have a few to choose from, plus a few blank ones if you would rather create your own.

After that we came home and while the kids napped and I worked on my blog a big, Chris went to pick up some mulch for me. I didn’t get it put down yet… I’m sure that won’t happen until next weekend at least. I tend to get nothing done in the yard during the week LOL

We went to pizza night, I had good wine, and then we went home to relax before the week started again.

My kids didn’t nap all weekend it seemed like. Even Liam’s naps were shorter than normal. I seriously ended my weekend wishing for a babysitter so I could have a couple minutes to myself without anyone interrupting. LOL. I live for nap time.

Tell me about your weekend in the comments! I’d love to hear about it. 🙂

 

Categories
Blogger Award

Mystery Blogger Award

Mom. Wife. Wine. has been nominated for its first ever award and I am so excited about it!! I am so flattered and beyond honored about the nomination for the Mystery Blogger Award.

I received the nomination from Morgan at Binkies, Bottles, and Babies and I would like to first thank her before I get started. Morgan is an amazing mama to her first baby and blogs about her parenting journey. She shares the BEST content and it is all so helpful to other mothers. She is also so supportive of other bloggers, which I think is so amazing of her. Make sure to hop over to her page and check out her work!

The Mystery Blogger AwardRULES

  1. Put the award logo/image on your blog.
  2. List the rules.
  3. Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog.
  4. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link to their blog.
  5. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
  6. Answer the 5 questions from the person who nominated you.
  7. Nominate other bloggers.
  8. Notify the nominees that you have nominated them for the award.
  9. Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice, with one weird or funny question.
  10. Share a link to your best post.

CREATOR

The creator of the Mystery Blogger Award is Okoto Enigma and you can check out her blog here. She blogs about lifestyle and travel.

THREE FACTS ABOUT ME

  1. I love to read. I prefer historical fiction or fiction that is written about controversial topics. I can get so wrapped up in a book that I don’t realize how much time has passed until I’m late getting somewhere. Oops.
  2. I question every single choice I make and everything I say. I spend hours afterward repeating it all in my head and beating myself up over it. I think it has a lot to do with my anxiety, but it is a huge problem that I’ve been dealing with for years and am working to get better about it.
  3. The age difference between my three babies is very small… 17 months between each of them. I got pregnant when Sylas turned 9 months old and then again when Josie turned 9 months old. Liam is lucky because we broke the cycle with him… now he gets to be the baby forever. 🙂

QUESTIONS THAT MORGAN ASKED ME

  1. What inspired you to start your blog? I have always loved blogging. I had a couple blogs in the past but I really had no idea what I was doing so they were mostly just blogs for myself. This time, I wanted to make my blog more successful in hopes that I can eventually earn an income doing what I love. I became serious about it when I realized that I wanted to be home with my babies every single day instead of working a “normal” full-time job while they were raised by a babysitter.
  2. What is your favorite thing about motherhood? Oh, this is a tough one! I love so much about motherhood. I love the hugs, kisses, cuddles, and unconditional love I receive from my babies every single day. I love watching them learn, grow, and become their own person. I love guiding them and being there as they achieve something new and seeing the excitement on their faces.
  3. If you could move anywhere in the world where would you live? South Haven, Michigan!! It is my FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH. My husband and I were married in South Haven so it makes it even more special to me. My husband always says he wants to live in New York City so I think we’ll run into an issue if we ever decide to move.
  4. If you won the lottery what would you do with the money? First I would pay off all of our bills. Every single one. Then I would probably invest a ton of it before installing a lazy river in the backyard of my brand new farmhouse.
  5. Who are three people who inspire you and why? My husband, my brother Scott, and my kids. My husband inspires me because he always encourages me and supports all the crazy decisions I make (like quitting my job and starting a blog) and he gives me his input and ideas whenever I ask. Scott inspires me because years ago he quit his “real” job to focus on his DJing business full time. It started from nothing and he managed to build a successful business. His dedication and drive inspire me to do great things outside of the normal ideas of a job. My kids inspire me (obviously, just take a look at my blog LOL) because they make me want to work harder every single day. They make me want to fight through all the depression and anxiety I deal with and come out stronger than ever. They give me purpose every single day and inspire me to be a better person and a better mother. They inspire me to make something of myself.

MY NOMINEES

The bloggers I am nominating are amazing women who put out amazing content consistently. I love following their journeys and seeing what is coming next. Take some time to check out their blogs and see why I love them so much!! I promise you won’t regret it. 🙂

Creating a Mama

Dominique – queenDOMsized

Chantel – Chavant Garde

QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES

  1. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
  2. What is your least favorite household chore and why?
  3. When you have a couple hours to yourself what do you do to relax?
  4. What is your all-time favorite TV show and why?
  5. If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

 

Thanks again, Morgan, for nominating me for this awesome award!!

Categories
Craft Marriage Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

40 Free or Cheap Date Night Ideas

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. It was not exciting at all… he got his gift early (last) week, which was a circular saw and the rest of his gifts won’t be here until tomorrow because I’m a crappy wife and ordered them late. He went to work, after work he rushed home to grab Sylas and Josie and then rushed to Nevaeh’s choir concert, while Liam and I went to my nephew’s high school graduation.

After the choir concert, Chris rushed back to our side of town to pick Peyton up from the school when he got back from his Macinack field trip. By the time we all got home, it was 9 pm and we hadn’t done anything fun all day. Sylas asked about 10 times when we were going to the park for daddy’s birthday because we always have Sylas’ parties at the park. LOL.

I knew ahead of time that Chris’ birthday wouldn’t be very “special”, so the littles and I took some time to make him a couple of homemade gifts.

***This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.***

I helped the kids make him some handprint crafts. Josie made a birthday cupcake using her hand, and then the flames on her “candles” are made from her fingerprints.

Sylas and Liam made little monsters. Sylas used his hand (minus the middle finger) to make his monster, and then I added the eye and mouth myself. Liam made a monster using his foot, and then I added the smile and eyes. I helped Liam make polka dots on his monster, too.

Sylas and Josie also did some free art time and they both chose to make pictures for daddy. They’re so sweet and I’m trying to help them understand that they should try and make daddy feel special on his birthday like he does for them on theirs.

 Josie’s artwork for daddy, it’s two different spaceships.

 One of Sylas’

 Sylas’ other one… this one is a tall tower, a dragon, and rain.

So then MY DIY project for Chris was a date night jar. We struggle with finding things to do when we are stuck at home and I always want to bond more than we do during a normal week.

We ALWAYS talk about having more date nights but with the kids, it’s really hard to find the time.

I decided to create a “Date Night” jar, full of things we can either do at home or (with a little planning ahead) find a babysitter for a couple of hours while we do something quick but fun.

I used a mason jar (I buy mine on Amazon) to hold the date night ideas. Then, I made a tag for a label, used a hole punch to make a hole in the tag, and slipped it onto twine before tying the twine around the neck of the bottle.

When we are wondering what we should do to have some fun, we just draw a date from the jar and go with the first one we pulled out. The ones that require a babysitter or a little planning ahead, I marked with a different color so that we know to avoid those ones when we know we are stuck at home.

No more sitting around wasting time on our phones or cleaning when we want to bond and spend time together… now we have plenty of ideas. 🙂

Are there any free/cheap date nights you would add to this list? Let me know in the comments. 🙂

Categories
Wine Wednesday

Wine Wednesday

I love Wine Wednesday. Gives me an actual *reason* to indulge in wine, know what I mean? 😉

This week I’m going to talk about Flipside, which is a dry red blend.

The cherry in this blend is very overwhelming, both when smelling and tasting. I also smelled hints of cocoa and pepper. Again, the taste has an overwhelming dark cherry flavor and I also noticed flavors of pepper and vanilla.

The tastes did blend together very well, but I would definitely pair it with a bolder food, probably something spicy. My husband (who thinks everything tastes like Mad Dog 20/20) actually said it’s not too bad!! I didn’t mind it but it wasn’t one of my favorites. I’d give it a 3 out of 5.

Categories
Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Magazine Letter Hunt

What’s better than an activity that involves letter recognition, cutting, and gluing? An activity that the kids LOVE and one that holds their attention for a while, right? What if I told you this activity does ALL OF THAT?

I’m serious.

I was inspired by Playful Learning in the Early Years. She did this activity on a poster-size scale and with each letter written out on one big piece of paper. The kids lined up their cut out letters next to the written letter.

My kids only know a handful of letters, though, so I thought writing them ALL out at once would overwhelm them. For this activity I wanted to work on letter H. No reason, really, it’s just one of the letters that they didn’t really know yet. I plan on doing this same activity with pretty much every letter of the alphabet at some point.

I took a single sheet of paper and wrote the letter H at the top of the page in both uppercase and lowercase. I handed the kids scissors, glue sticks, and a stack of magazines and asked them to find H’s, cut them out, and glue them to their paper. Sylas was able to do it all on his own and I worked with Josie on hers. Josie only wanted to do like, three H’s and then got distracted by pretty shoes and started cutting out the entire outfit. At least she focused on the letters for a little bit.

I guess this is also a good time to talk about when activities don’t go as planned. Josie literally covered up most of her letters with a giant picture of an actress’ outfit… THAT’S OKAY. She still took something from the activity.. we talked about and looked for the letter H, and she was able to pick some of them out herself. She also worked on fine motor concepts. Cutting, gluing, using her pinching fingers when needed, and also she made a little collage. She’s happy with what she created, she learned, she worked on other concepts, and she enjoyed herself. It’s totally okay if your child doesn’t do exactly what you had envisioned.

 

Next time I’ll probably cut the paper in half because the letters were small and didn’t cover much of the page anyway.

They really liked this one because they love cutting and gluing, and apparently they think it’s fun to cut up mommy’s magazines.

And a bonus – now they are BOTH recognizing H.

What are your favorite ways to teach letter recognition? I’m always looking for new ideas. 🙂

 

**Note – Sylas just turned 4 a couple days ago and Josie is 2.

 

Categories
Our Family

Happy Birthday To My First Born

How can it be that my first born is four years old? My sweet Sylas… the baby who taught me how to be a mom, how to successfully breastfeed, how to change a diaper on my lap, how to love with my whole entire heart. We learned all the hard parts together and formed a bond greater than anything I ever thought possible. Through all the sleepless nights, exhausting days, frustrated tears, painful nursing, we grew closer to one another. He became my best friend and my sidekick. He became my rock, even though I know I’m supposed to be his.

He taught me to smile on the hard days and fight through what seemed like unbearable post-partum depression. Looking back, I realize I could have been such a better mom if only I hadn’t been so depressed but Sylas loved me unconditionally anyway. Holding him and talking to him when he was an infant was the only thing that made me feel better some days.

Even now, all these years later, I go to Sylas when I’m feeling sad. This boy can always cheer me up and knows just what to say to make me smile. His sweet kisses and big hugs can cheer me up any day. We have come so far together in these 4 short years.

This boy is perfect in every single way. He is so smart, funny, caring, and a little bit crazy. He’s my little love bug and will always be a baby in my eyes… my sweet, sweet, baby. How crazy that my boy has grown from a tiny little baby who nursed non-stop, constantly held onto mama’s finger, and rested in mama’s arms most of the day into a 4-year-old, independent, crazy, wild almost preschooler. I can’t believe it and I wish time would SLOW down. I need my baby just a little longer before he realizes he doesn’t need me anymore.

Today is your day, my little superhero. This is the day mama’s life changed… the day mama became a better person… and the day mama found a love that would forever overfill her heart. This is the day you were born, and a day that is so special to me. I love you, Sylas Pierce,  more than you’ll ever know.

Categories
Friday Favorites

Friday Pinterest Favorites

It’s Friday so I’m here to share some of my favorite pins from the week!! I love all the different ideas that can be found on Pinterest.

Lego Zip Line from Little Bins for Little Hands -How cool is this?! My boys LOVE legos and with their age difference (6 years) it’s hard to find things that they both enjoy. I’m so excited to show them this and help them make it together.

 

We Decided On Forever sign made by ThisPhraseofLife on Etsy – Omgosh I am in LOVE with this sign. I pretty much have to have it. After finding this sign I browsed around on her Etsy shop a little and I basically loved every item she sells. Seriously, you should check it out.

Just Another Manic Mom-Day Design Silhouette for Cricut by GalliniDesign on Etsy – When I first pinned this I thought it was going to take me directly to a shirt that I could buy but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is actually a silhouette to use with a Cricut. That means I can put this saying on anything! How awesome is that?!

Find & Erase Matching Shapes by Jamie at Hands on As We Grow – If you guys saw my post from yesterday (Name and Letter Recognition with Sidewalk Chalk), you know that we like to do learning activities outside. I love this one because it ties learning, sidewalk chalk, and water play together in one activity. My kids love all of the above, but water play is definitely their favorite. It’s supposed to storm this weekend but on the next nice day we have, we will definitely be trying this activity. Oh, and while I was on Jamie’s blog, I signed up to do a 7-day challenge of doing activities with my toddlers. I can’t wait to read the emails and see what it entails!

 

What are some of your favorite pins from this week? Leave a link in the comments so I can check them out. 🙂

Categories
Family Activities Our Family Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Name Recognition with Sidewalk Chalk

While we were outside playing today I wanted to do a learning activity with the toddlers. We hadn’t done much all day because Liam had a reaction to eggs and it threw our day off a little while we dealt with that.

The kids were using sidewalk chalk so I grabbed a couple pieces myself and wrote out the names of everyone in our immediate family. We’ve been working so hard on name and letter recognition so I wanted to reinforce what we have been learning.

I asked Sylas to find his name and he did immediately, then he noticed that my name has the same letter as his name. We talked about how he will see the letter ‘S’ in a few different names in our family so I asked him to show me every name that had a letter ‘S’ in it. He was able to identify them all!

Then he went and stood on Peyton’s name and actually told me that it was Peyton’s name! I hadn’t read any of them to him so I was a little surprised. I asked how he knew and he said, “It has his first letter!” He couldn’t remember that it was called ‘P’ so we worked on that a little, too.

We worked our way through all the names and the letters they have in common.

It was super effective and since we had never done it with sidewalk chalk before, he paid attention a little longer and seemed to pick up on more of the learning aspect.

Bonus, there is absolutely no clean-up required. 😉

Categories
Craft Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

Paper Plate Wolf Craft

My toddlers are obsessed with the big bad wolf right now, Josie especially. Her favorite is The 3 Little Pigs but she’s also really enjoying Little Red Riding Hood.

We read the books pretty often and I also found a couple YouTube videos of each story that the kids really like.

Josie always asks to watch this “scary” Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, which is actually an older version. That one is definitely her favorite, but Sylas likes a newer version better (Three Little Pigs kids story cartoon).

They agree on the same Little Red Riding Hood video, so that’s good. I don’t have to sit through two different versions of the same cartoon.

Anyway, Josie asked to make a wolf with paint and of course, I said yes. I never pass up on an opportunity for crafts. I sometimes regret that afterward when there’s a mess to clean up but it’s worth it.

She used brown paint on a paper plate for the wolf’s head and then I helped her cut out construction paper in the shape of a snout, teeth, eyes, ears, and nose.

She glued all the shapes together and put them on the paper plate.

It turned out sooooo cute!! I love it and so does she.

She’s been walking about the house with it in front of her face and growling. She thinks it’s hilarious.

Share your most recent crafts with me in the comments! I’d love to take a look. 🙂