T-ball & sibling differences.

Two t-ball games down; several to go. I'm the team mom by default since Thomas is the head coach, and let me tell you.. making sure 13 little boys and 1 little girl between the ages of 4 and 6 are relatively behaved for an entire hour is HARD work. In fact, it's excellent birth control! Tommy's first game was stressful. He was exhausted and overwhelmed and had four meltdowns in the hour-long game. Thankfully his game yesterday went SO much better! He got on base every time he went up to bat and he even caught a ball thrown to him from first base! (he was playing catcher). 

In a little over a week Tommy will be turning the big 5 years old. Gone is my baby, my toddler, and soon, my preschooler. I'm still in denial that he starts Kindergarten this Fall and will be gone all day. I'm not ready for this big step, but he sure is. He's thriving in school and I've never been so proud. Anyways, we won't be having his party until the following weekend after his birthday since my father-in-law won't be back in town until then. He's having a baseball theme, of course.

Anyone who knows me probably has gotten the impression that Tommy is a good kid. Compassionate, thoughtful, sensitive, and gentle. I used to think I had the biggest hand in molding his personality.. and maybe I did; atleast a fraction of it, anyways. I try my hardest to mimic the qualities that I want to instill in my kids. All of the characteristics that Tommy posesses. But my dearest baby girl sure is giving me a run for my money. She is everything Tommy is not. She's aggressive and abrasive. Rough and tumble. Outspoken (even though she's only 14 months and can't say a whole heck of a lot) and demanding.  

I am already struggling with finding the best tools to teach and guide her. I can already tell that the discipline methods I implement with Tommy are going to require much more persistence if I want them to be as effective with Emma. Tommy has always responded to gentle guidance and redirection. He's the kind of kid who will break down in tears if I so much as raise my voice with him. Emma, on the other hand? She already laughs at me when I get firm with her. Currently I'm having a hard time with her aggressiveness. She's the hitter Tommy never was. It is absolutely no exaggeration when I declare that Tommy has never, not once!, hit or smacked me with the intention of defiance. Oh, but my little princess sure is the EXACT opposite. She 'speaks' with her hands. When she's excited, she smacks. When she's upset, she slaps. When she's mad, she hits. Now, I know that she is not doing this with the sole intention of hurting me or defying me. She's too young, plain and simple. But I know that it will progress to that if I don't find a way to show her another way to release her frustrations. So, for now I cling to the hope that firmness and consistency is key. When she winds up to take a swing, I shield her hand and firmly tell her "No ma'am. We do not hit". Sometimes she does it anyways, but sometimes, and progressingly more often than in the past, she takes that as a cue that it is a big no no, and she will redirect her anger elsewhere.

She definitely keeps me on my toes, that's for sure. But it goes without saying that I love her all the same as her big brother. Life would be boring if we were all the same, right? She definitely gives me a more empathetic perspective when it comes to parenting in general. One of my biggest hurdles in parenting is to not be so extreme. It's okay to make mistakes, so long as you learn from them, right?

And with that, Thomas should be home any minute so I'm off to do the cleaning in the next 10 minutes, that I should have done the past 9 hours that I have been awake.

Time change

I'm not sure if I love it or hate it yet. Emma seems to take more efficient naps the past week, but that could be totally coincidental. She still goes to bed at the same time every evening (7pm) but I'm sure going to bed when it's still light out is pretty confusing for her. Luckily it hasn't been that much of a struggle. But getting up for the day when it's still dark out? That's what I have a problem with. Emma has her own little internal clock that goes off around 6:40 every morning. That didn't change when the time shift did. It confuses the daylights (no pun intended) out of me, though. When I hear her start to stir, I subconsciously think it's way earlier than it really is. I nurse her and find myself putting her back in bed...but of course she puts a stop to that real quick and lets me know that is not happening! Oh well, I do love more outside play time with my babies.

Thomas won't be too thrilled when he sees that this little Diva is really his son. It's a comicable dispute we've had going for years. He's very much a manly, gender stereotype, and believes our son should follow suit. He wrinkles his face in disapprovement when Tommy is drawn to something that could even remotely be considered feminine. I say 'let kids be kids!' I want Tommy to have a compassionate side to him. In fact, that is very much in his nature. He still has a 'lovey'.. a stuffed black dog he named Trixie, that he sleeps with every night.

We used to have a black lab named Trixie, but we ended up giving her to another family that could better suit her needs. Trixie was a very energetic, hyperactive dog, and didn't know how to be gentle with the kids. I couldn't let them out back without getting clawed up. Of course she had the best intentions; she just wanted to play! But she just wasn't a good match for our family, so we found another family with several acres of farmland who were more than thrilled to take her in. Okay, moving on. I tend to go off in tangents here and there.

Emma is definitely a more rough and tumble kind of child. She beats up her older brother, if that tells you anything. Tommy was always a gentle child. Emma, on the other hand, will rough you up in any opportunity she is given. She's a slapper, a shrieker, a pincher.. the works! But I love her all the same. Even if I already feel we have more than filled our child female quota. I want boys from here on out! Okay, so I'm joking, but really.. she's just 14 months old and already quite the diva.

I mentioned Tommy's lovey, so lets talk about Emma's beloved gloworm. Several months ago she spotted Mr. Glo on a Toys R Us shelf and demanded he be placed in her hands. Turns out we wouldn't be leaving the store without him. & yes, I'm aware that there is a Mrs. Glo on the shelves as well, but Emma knew which one she wanted. She sleeps with him every night. We have a routine at bedtime. Bath, jammies, teeth get brushed, and then her last nursing session for the night. She nurses and then I cuddle her for a few moments telling her "It's night-night time". When I lay her in her crib, I *must* turn on Mr. Glo. She will then wrap her little arm over his belly and continue to press his belly until she falls asleep. Luckily he has a long battery life.

There's not much on the agenda for today. I already ran the only errand I had and that was to pick up Thomas' check and deposit it. Now the kids are watching Scooby Doo before we go play outside. I'm thinking we'll get nice and dirty in the back yard before lunch and naptime at noon.

New beginnings.

I've been yearning for another outlet since my love for Xanga died a couple years ago, and this seems to be the place to blog now. I've always loved writing, especially when it comes to putting my feelings on "paper", figuratively speaking, of course. I love to document the little things.. milestones my children are mastering, day to day activities, such as playing at the park or reading a new book. I'm not looking to entertain an audience, but I am looking for a place to journal my every day life. When I read back through my old Xanga page, starting from my pregnancy with my first born, up until he was about 2-3, I wrote so vividly 'the little things', that I am able to relive those days vividly through my words.

So, I'll start from the beginning. My name is Brandi. I'm 26 years old (a New Year's Eve baby) and live in South Texas. I am married to Thomas, who is about to finish school and turn out as an Electrical Journeyman. Together we have two beautiful children. Tommy (Thomas, V.) who will be 5 in April, and Emma Reese who just turned 1 this past January.

I love to cook. You'll often hear me talk of food. Cooking, baking.. both are a passion of mine. I get a sense of accomplishment when I have made my dinners from scratch and/or baked a delicious dessert. And of course, we can't forget anything and everything related to parenting. I'm learning as I go and tend to base my decisions on tons of research. I lean towards natural and attachment parenting, but I do have some slight streaks of mainstream in me (I still love using my stroller).

And with that, my first (& most boring) post of this blog is finished.