Family Trips - Are They Survivable?

When I first decided I wanted to be a parent and have kids, the thing I envisioned doing was taking family trips.  I wanted to take the kids to Disney World, show them DC, go skiing, and maybe even be the cool parents who take their teenagers to Europe.  Once I actually had the kids (by kids, I mean more than one), I thought, "Am I insane?  How are we ever going to leave our house?"
Well, this weekend we took our 4.5 year old and our almost 22 month old to the Gulf (not a fantastic beach, but it's close).  We have traveled with our kids before, but never with just the four of us and never a car trip.  This was really a family proof of concept.
And guess what?  It wasn't totally awful!  In fact, many parts were fun.  Unfortunately, it rained and was 75 degrees the whole weekend, not ideal for the beach, but the kids still thought it was fun.  We were in a different place.  They got to play in the mud (AKA beach).  They got to swim in a new pool.  The condo had new books and movies.  Our 4.5 year old even thought the ocean was awesome, which shocked me since it required her to get sand on her and potentially be near a jelly fish.  Granted, our 22 month old quickly decided he did not like the ocean when it almost swept him to sea, so he just stood there and yelled "Sissy" at his sister out of extreme concern for her well-being.  So cute.  And he consumed an unhealthy amount of dirty, rain water from the oh-so-clean Texas beach (but hey, no vomiting - that's a win).
Anyway, so what I realized yet again is that the worst part was what I built up in my mind.  I feared every worst case scenario happening, when in actuality, very few of those scenarios came to be.  Now was it relaxing and like a kid-free vacation?  Not in the least.  But it showed me we could do this again and still retain our sanity.  And I remembered why I initially wanted to have kids?  So I could share these experiences with them and see them have as much fun as I did as a kid.  And that made it all worth it.

Holiday Stress - Already?

So the holidays are just around the corner - you know how I know?  Yes, of course, I have a calendar and know how to read it.  But what I meant was Lowe's and Home Depot already have Christmas decorations.  Ughhh.
Now I should tell you that Fall has ALWAYS been my favorite season - it gets cooler, you get to wear pretty boots, there's football (well, there's tailgating), and there are lots of awesome holidays I get to decorate for and celebrate.  LOVE it!
But something weird happened about 2 years ago.  My son was born.  No, that wasn't the weird part. The weird part was that once I had the hustle and bustle of two little kids, suddenly the holidays started feeling very stressful.
Now when I see the Christmas decorations at Lowe's, I mentally start preparing my to-do list.  AHHHHH.  So I pondered this the other day while my kids were miraculously entertaining themselves for five minutes.  How can I enjoy the holidays with two little kids and not let the stress take all of the fun out of it?
I decided to make a list of all of the FUN things I want to do with my family, not all of the things that have to be done (i.e. sending Christmas cards and buying gifts for my mother-in-law - nothing personal, Linda).  I'm talking about going to the pumpkin patch, decorating pumpkins, making Christmas cookies, and looking at Christmas lights.  I'm going to put those things on my calendar - they make me happy.  I'll get to the other stuff, too.  I didn't give up my Type A card after all.  But if my to-do list starts out with the fun stuff, hopefully, that will keep the fun in the holidays!
Anybody else have good holiday stress-relieving ideas????

Celebrating 40!

In just three short days, I will officially leave my 30's.  That's right the big 4-0.  It's a big milestone, so I felt like surely I would have some big epiphanies or reflections, right?  But really, I don't.  In fact, it hasn't felt as monumental as I thought it would.  I'm not sure what that means - is that good or bad?
BUT - I did feel like it was an occasion that should be celebrated.  I'm not a big birthday person in general (very ironic given the business I started), but I felt I would regret just letting it pass by as a typical birthday.
So why am I not a big birthday person?  Well, it requires a lot of effort and work to plan a party, because my husband probably isn't going to do it.  And well, I guess I always want to give my energy to other things (like my party business!) but not to celebrating me.
So this year I decided I should celebrate me!  And quite frankly, my business, Piece of Cake Parties, is what has helped me find the energy to celebrate this milestone.  I know this seems like a shameless plug, but truly, this is why I started this business - to help people have fun planning a party.  To make it easy!  But easy when you are still happy and proud of the outcome.  Not easy like, "I didn't do anything" or "I just threw some crap together" easy.
So I'm celebrating with a wine theme!  Wine is the perfect 40th birthday for me - love everything about it - the taste of it, the look of it, the varieties of it, everything.  And my husband did hire an Italian restaurant to cater it, which is easy and very coordinated.  So here are some highlights of the party - super easy, and I'm going to be very happy I did celebrate me and my 40 years on this earth.  Here's to 40 more!

pocparties.com

Sometimes It's Just a Phase

I've mentioned in my previous blogs that the past 10 months - really 20 months - have felt very stressful at our house.  We welcomed our 2nd child to the family, which of course, required more sleepless nights (7 months worth) and lots of toddler chasing.  Consequently, our 4 year-old also had some first child adjustments, too - that came in the form of monumental melt downs.  And at the same time, we were starting a new business.
Periodically, when my husband and I clearly must have looked a little exhausted to others, a kind soul would say to us, "It gets easier."  BTW, I always appreciated those comments so much more than the "Enjoy these days.  You will miss them." comments.  Really?
Well, I'm happy to report it is getting easier!  Our now 21 month old does listen to our requests most of the time.  He can walk on his own without constant fear he will bolt into the parking lot.  He's old enough to play on the playground without us being two feet away.  He doesn't get into EVERYTHING in the house (note, that doesn't mean he has given up exploration completely - the toilet is still beyond fascinating).  And our 4-year-old is really mostly delightful now.  She's funny and smart and sometimes even genuinely helpful.  She actually likes to please us (sometimes) instead of just doing the opposite of what was requested.  And last but not least, we launched our business, which has also relieved some stress.
This past weekend I could truly say I enjoyed all of the family activities we did!  So for those of you in a stressful period of your life - my words of consolation are "Sometimes it's just a phase."  Be patient, find as much relaxation as you can and take solace in knowing it will get easier.

Sugar Chart Update

So I have an update on my sugar chart I implemented a few weeks ago.  A quick recap, I assigned points to the typical sugar items in our house (pancakes, cookies, sugar cereal, etc.).  Then, I told my 4 year old daughter she could have 4 points each day during the week and 6 points each day on the weekends.
Well, I am ecstatic, albeit somewhat surprised, to share that it is working amazingly!  We haven't had a single argument about sugar.  I haven't had to tell her "No."  I just explain if she chooses Lucky Charms for breakfast, she will only have enough points to have a yogurt when she comes home from school.  This amazingly seems to motivate her to opt for Rice Krispies in the morning, so she can have dessert after dinner that night.
I'm not saying this will work for every kid.  They definitely have to be old enough to be able to delay gratification, and they need to have some basic math skills, but it's worth a try.  It has been so awesome to remove this source of whining from our home - so that we have plenty of time to deal with whining about other important 4-year-old issues.