Show And Tell Tuesday- My Struggles

Today I'm linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday. I'm so glad I actually remembered to participate this month! Today's topic is "struggles". I recently posted about my struggle with anxiety. So today I'm going to share with you what I like to call the "mom struggles". 

As a mom there are so many highs and lows that we experience on daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis in my house. I am by no means a perfect mom. In fact there are times when I think I down right stink at it. I lose my patience more than I care to admit. I wake up each morning and tell myself that I will not get frustrated easily, I will accept the whining and temper tantrums and I will get through the day with a cheerful heart. And then at the first melt down that goes out the window. 

I struggle with getting Jack to eat anything remotely healthy! He is beyond picky! Unless it is peanut butter, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, apple sauce, bananas or things unhealthy he won't eat it. I couldn't even get him to try popcorn at the movie yesterday morning! Thankfully Graham is a much better eater and I just pray he continues. I have totally failed in this department as a mom with Jack.

I struggle with screen time. My kids are addicted to ipads/phones etc. It's 100% my fault and I am working on cutting out the amount of time spent on them. Jack started watching the iPad (youtube) when Graham was a newborn. I know that I need to be better about this and I know there is tons of research that says that screen time does terrible things to their brains, but sometimes mama just needs a little break and if it keeps them occupied for 15 minutes than so be it! 

I struggle with comparing my kids. Not only comparing them to each other. Lord knows I did enough of this Graham's first year of life! But also comparing them to other kids. Are they behind what everyone else is doing. Is one doing something better than the other? It's a terrible habit and one that I would really love to break. But I think as parents, its natural to compare. Even if we don't mean to, we are going to do it. 

I struggle with making sure that my boys know just how much I love them. I don't ever want them to question for one second how much I love them. Even in the moments when I am frustrated and don't think I can "mom" one more minute I still want them to know they are the most important thing in my life and that I love them more than anything! 

Here are just a few of my struggles right now! What do you struggle with? can you relate to any of this?

Linking up with Lindsay 

Weekend Recap

We had a jam packed fun weekend! This is the first weekend in awhile where I felt like we've really crammed a lot in!

FRIDAY |

The boys went to camp in the morning and I ran around trying to get stuff together for a baby sprinkle I was hosting on Saturday.  Friday night Patrick, Jack and I went to a baseball game. I've mentioned before that we live in a small town. I really do love it! We have a local summer baseball team that is a team of college ball players from all over. Local family will even host a player for the summer. If you've ever seen the movie Summer Catch it reminds me of this so much. Jack had a great time, the weather was perfect, no humidity! Graham of course stayed home with a sitter. He's too wild to go and he goes to bed at 7.

SATURDAY |

I spent the morning getting my house ready for the sprinkle. That afternoon a friend and I hosted a sweet sprinkle for our friend Megan. (The one I met at Target!) She is pregnant with a baby girl and we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome Emma Kate into our group. Megan also has a boy who is Jacks age and one of his best buddies.

Saturday night we had a low key night at home.

SUNDAY |

We had a lazy morning. The boys played and we just hung out in our jammies until about 10:30. We made a quick trip to the grocery store and to lunch. When Graham went down for nap Jack and I went to the pool for a few hours. He is loving the pool and quite the little fish!

Sunday evening we had our friends over to try out the new grill Patrick just got. We did burgers and hot dogs and the kids all had a good time. Their kids are 8 and 10 and Jack and Graham adore them. They are always so sweet with the boys! Jack of course was wild since I let him skip his nap.

It was a really fun weekend and feels like Summer has officially started! The boys start camp this week and I've got some appointments. I'm sure we will be heading to the pool most afternoons! What did you do fun this weekend?

*Linking up with Biana

Friday Favorites

I don't know about ya'll but I am so glad it's the weekend!! This week has done me in for some reason.  I've got some good favorites this week!

O N E | If you follow me on insta you saw my debut of my new letter board last weekend! I have been wanting one for awhile and finally decided to order it. I am having so much fun. Punching all the letters out was a pain and I knew I didn't want to store them in this bag to have to search through every time. I remembered Lindsay saying that she got a storage container from Walmart so earlier this week I ventured there for the sole purpose of this. I hate that store but I was in and out in no time, and it's been so nice to have everything organized!

 T W O | I have wanted a Charlotte hat for awhile now and when I saw Hope wearing it the other day I asked her where she got hers. I ordered one for myself and was excited when it came this week! There are tons of hats like this floating around and I am positive you can find your city somewhere! I ordered from The Pink Hanger and they sent a hugger with my hat, great marketing!

 T H R E E | Jack had camp this week at his school and I just loved all the crafts that got sent home. They did a camping theme. Zoom in and you can spot my little ginger laying under his tent!

 F O U R | Comfy shoe alert! If you are looking for a comfy shoe you can throw on and wear around town these are it! My bestie has them and I actually made fun of her calling them her "old lady shoes" and then my mom got them and wore them all around Europe and ended up wanting a second pair, so I figured they had to be comfy! They in fact, are!

F I V E | I had a hair appointment yesterday! Is that not your absolute favorite day? I loved sitting and relaxing with starbucks and a book while my hair processed!

What do ya'll have planned for the weekend? I am helping throw my sweet friend a sprinkle for she and her soon to be baby girl! Other than that I think we will hit up the pool and just relax. I really want to see the new Beauty and the Beast and hope I can con Patrick into watching it!

*Linking up with Andrea, April, and Katie

Girl Chat: Summer Essentials

When it comes to summer essentials one thing comes to mind. Pool bag. We spend most of our days at the pool and having a well stocked bag is key!

As far as the actual bag goes I love the Scout deano bag. It's huge and fits so much! I can successfully carry 4 towels, bag of sunscreen, pool toys, change of clothes, diapers, snacks and have two puddle jumpers attached.

If you read this post, you know that I must carry a ton of sun screen with me. This vera bradley bag is perfect for sunblock, it holds a ton and is plastic so its easily wipeable should any explode. 

 Pool toys are a must! Most of them come from target and I don't have any expectations that they will come home with us at the end of the season. The eggs are great and from amazon. They have turtles in them and are great for learning to dive under the water, although we are not there yet. We also have two puddle jumpers and this life jacket.

 This clip on fan is great for me to attach to the stroller. The blades are foam so it doesn't hurt when the boys touch it.

Of course sunglasses and a hat for the boys is key too! Not pictures are the towels that we take with us, bathing suits, and I always have rash guards for the boys to wear. I like to protect their skin as must as possible. A wet/dry bag is key when going to the pool. I keep the  boys dry clothes in the bag and then once I change them I will put their wet suits in it to go home. Also, a great piece of advice. Bring jammies with you to the pool. We always either stay until right before dinner or right after dinner so putting them in their jammies saves a step of having to change them twice! 

I also couldn't get through summer with out my favorite sunglasses and flip flops. I wear them on the regular.

What are your summer essentials? Am I missing something in my pool bag that makes your life super easy?

*Linking up with Annie and Danielle

Whats Happening Wednesday- Sleep Essentials

I'm going to be real honest with ya'll...I am in a major blogging slump. I don't know if its the start of summer or what but man I have been staring at my blank computer screen trying to write decent content and nothing would come to me. Thus the lack of posts this week. I am probably going to back down to 3 days a week posting for this month and maybe through summer. I don't like feeling the pressure of trying to post 5 days a week.

I think as moms we all have something that we feel like we are really good at. Getting my kids to eat a variety of healthy meals is not one of my things. But, sleep, now sleep I can do! I think a good sleep environment is key to having a good sleeper. In fact, on a recent trip to Charlotte I realized about half way there that I forgot Grahams sleep sack. Literally the first thing that I did upon arriving was run up to the local boutique and buy one for him.

These are what I think help to make a great sleeper. We take all of this whenever we go somewhere!

Sleep Sack - Jack literally slept in this until he moved out of his crib at almost 3 years old. I plan to do the same with Graham. Bonus..it keeps them from being able to climb out! 

Paci- If your baby is a paci baby you know how important these are. Graham has no less than 5+ in his crib at any given time. I love having a bunch in there so that they can find them when they wake no matter where they are in the crib. Often times he will have one in his mouth and one in each hand. 

Lovey- I tried to get Jack to attach to a lovey and he never did, so this time I have kept it with Graham since birth. He has two of them and I'm not sure he's entirely attached but I hope that it will help with the getting rid of the paci at some point.

Jammies- We are big fans of carters zip up jammies. They make middle of the night diaper changes easy and they are fairly inexpensive, especially with all of their sales they run! 

pillow- I don't have a pillow in Graham's crib yet, but I will eventually put this small one in there to help ease the transition from crib to bed. 

Sound Machine- my #1 piece of advice for moms is to get a sound machine. Play the white noise and turn it up loud! I think this is probably the biggest aspect of sleep training. My MIL has one at her house, we take two whenever we leave town so that each boy has their own. 

None of these things are crazy out of the box things, but they have helped to make my boys good sleepers. What are the essentials that your baby needs to sleep? 

*linking up with Jenn

Friday Favorites

This entire week has me totally off. I can't believe that it's already Friday! I guess when you are out of town until Wednesday that will happen!

Here we go with my favorites from the week!

O N E | While I was in Charlotte I finally got to meet up with my friend Sarah. We met through my blog and I was so excited that it worked for us to have a playdate. Her girls are precious and I'm already plotting the arranged marriage between them and my boys!

T W O | My dads 70th birthday party! This was such a fun night and I just loved being home with both my sisters. I can't believe my dad will be 70 on Sunday! He had the best time with family and friends and that cake...ya'll it was gorgeous! It didn't look like a cake at all. He is super into wine and this was the perfect cake for him.

T H R E E | Pool season is upon us! Jack is loving being in the pool and it's so nice that I don't have to hold him constantly this year. Last summer he was still really scared.

F O U R | I've had several people message me about my nail color and it is definitely a summer favorite! it's the OPI gel and the color is mod about you. But my favorite way to go is 2 coats mod about you and 1 coat mod about you pastel (2 different colors). You can also do 1 coat Mod about you and 2 coats mod about you pastel. They both turn out awesome.

F I V E | I posted this on IG yesterday, but hydrangeas are my absolute favorite flower. We have tons planted in our flower beds and also currently have 5 huge pots on our porch. I cut these from the pots yesterday and they are just gorgeous! All pots are full of blooms!

*linking up with Andrea, April, and Katie