Stay at home mom

Do you ever get mad when your husband asks what you do all day? When you say your tired and family members roll their eyes at you? Or my all time favorite " why is the house messy since you stay home all day and I work".. Like raising 3 kids is a walk in the park or the even harder part CLEANING after 3 kids... I can't even pee alone or sneak eat snacks without sharing so how does anyone think this job is easy? I don't even normally leave the house cause honestly I'd rather cut off an arm than try to take these 3 anywhere by myself... So what gives off the impression that this is so easy? cause I'm home? over worked? under paid? and by under paid I mean my only source of payment is kisses and hugs...  The life of a stay at home mom is far from glamorous but I consider it more of the ultimate career rather than the life of ease.... in my 2 years of being a stay at home mommy I have become a maid, chef, taxi driver, referee, secretary, laundromat, teacher, tea party thrower, art teacher and more. with that being said my house is not perfect.. even being home all day I just can't find the time to play with my kids, potty train, take care of baby and have a spotless house.. theres just not enough time in the day....cause even being home there is no sitting and watching desperate housewives on tv... no phone breaks... no break period.. even when nap time comes by then I'm cleaning up the mess the kids made before napping or holding my screaming 3 month old who isn't a scheduled napper yet...

speaking of the little cutie here she is!! Which to add even more to my " what we do all day" this little nugget is the most colicky baby I've ever seen in my life... But anyway while  I'm enjoying my life as a stay at home mom heres what I'm doing... PLAYING WITH MY KIDS 

teaching my kids how to play sports, group games, share become future athletes or at least a kid that plays outside rather than sitting in front of the tv...

Encouraging them opening their imagination to build and explore 

become future artists 

or future chefs 

or at least just tiny people that pee in the potty

or teaching them to love each other as siblings and friends.. To take care of each other, share and how to "love baby" cause lets face it some day these kids will be the parents in the world.

Toddlers minds are so open and ready to learn and explore and be apart of the world. How can you manage to sit for a min when these tiny people are asking 1,000 questions a day... All about stuff that they are so excited to learn and talk about... We are raising the future adults in this world and I'm happy to say I know exactly how the ones I put out are being raised. Cause I'm instilling in them each and every day a picture of what love and support looks like... I just hope that when they are older with kids of their own they remember how hard mommy tried. How much effort and love was constantly put into them to grow their dreams... That gentle hands guided them not screaming voices... That they had a support and cheer team supporting them at all times... That we made constant effort to play with them and be involved rather than staring lifeless at our phones... We wanted to be the parents most people don't ever get.. Which is extremely tiring when its 24/7... I hope they remember that I dreamed of becoming their mom so I cherished every moment of staying home with them even if 80% of the time was just being their referee while folding our giant mountain of laundry.. So in the end I don't mind the eye rolls about staying home, or money questions or rude messy house comments. Because at the end of the day I know I'm so blessed to give myself and my children an experience so many don't get to have... The chance to really be around the first few years to watch them learn and grow into the people they are going to become... But right now I'll just hope they become people that eventually learn to pee in the potty and sleep through the night... So heres playing with kids instead of having perfectly clean houses cause kids grow fast and leave but dishes will always be dirty...

Catch up

So I've been super far behind in posting... Life has been rather crazy so I'll just jump into it and catch you all up. We have recently added our third little one... yup thats right 3 kids.. We are now officially those people with the awkwardly large families.... More kids than adults to grab.. The kind of big where people will eventually have to make sure we rsvp because we take up so much space and food... That's us now the official tribe of 5 and I absolutely love it! so let me recap the past few months a bit I was due with our 3rd baby on Nov 17th ( say thank you to valentines day for your creation sweet daughter)

I won't lie I loveeeee being pregnant other than the puking of course..

So after a few trips to the ER for kidney stones and my body ending up having really bad kidney damage they decided to induce me early so they could then start working on the stones with a baby in the way and crushing my organs like college kids and a tiny frat party... 

Luckily one of my wonderful friends asked if I wanted her to do birthing pics and of course I said yes! I was so incredibly excited!!

after 14 hours of inducement misery our little girl finally arrived!! Labor was so much better and scarier this time. Having my sweet friend do our pictures was awesome like having a woman tribe supporting me! I cannot say enough fabulous things about the experience. I got to touch her head as she was coming out thanks to my wonderful midwife! It was the most amazing experience I've ever had. Then the scary part happened she went to come out and the cord was caught around her neck...so they had to put her back in enough to cut the cord.. OUCH... She came out purple and not crying and it was the scariest moment ever. They shook her a little and she belted out a scream and then I got to hold our beautiful girl.

Here are some pics of my kids meeting their new sibling. They were in love with her from the start and it was perfect. My middle daughter Mia in obsessed with her, she would hold her and feed her every min if I allowed her to. Which is comforting to know they will be best friends..

Walt Disney World Tips

so my family and I are active Disney lovers. we could eat, sleep and breathe Disney if our bills and mortgage would allow it. We've been annual pass holders for almost  year now and other than a new dryer its the best purchase we've ever made. We probably find ourselves at the 'happiest place on earth' around twice a month. Yup we pack up our huge SUV with all our crap and a 9 month old and two year old that often. If you ask any of or friends and family they would easily tell you we are more than likely insane... but we love it!! We have a system that works for us and some days it feels like I spend more time changing diapers and applying sunscreen rather than enjoying the park but its still always enjoyable. So here's some tips and tricks I've come up with using our experiences.

1st pack pack pack.

It's all about what you bring that will make or break your day. I cant tell you how much it sucks to spend your souvenir budget on two baby jackets cause you forgot yours... baby wipes are always handy even without kids so you can wipe off a table at a restaurant or clean off your sticky fingers from that dole whip or mickey mouse ice cream cone. If you are looking to save money you can bring in small soft sided coolers with pretty much anything you want other than liquor. We tend to cook a pizza at home the day before and pack the slices in zip lock bags for a meal that's easy to eat and still yummy cold, or lets face it luke warm at the park later.. Also if you don't want to spend a whooping $ 3.50 every time you get thirsty for a soda or water, You can save tons of money by simply bringing in a Tervis or other cup/water bottle and refill it at the many water fountains throughout every park. Kids are always hungry so make sure not to break the bank by packing some snacks, we normally pack goldfish for toddler and puffs for the baby then buy the rest. The trick we normally use is to buy a popcorn bucket for $10 as soon as we walk in the park and refill it throughout the day for only $1. We also make sure to get our moneys worth by filling it up one last time on the way out to snack on on the way home.

2. Restaurants
There are baby friendly restaurants and not so baby friendly ones..  We have been to our fair share of both between date trips up there and our regular family trips . Kid friendly ones I would say
*ABC commissary (Hollywood Studios) the food is yummy and one of the faster places to eat, lots of seating and easy food for the kids such as burgers, chicken nuggets and grilled cheese. They have lots of booths which to me is easier to wrangle my toddler in.
*Casey's Corner (magic Kingdom) Honestly my favorite place to eat. The hot dogs are out of this world with a separate bar to put toppings like cheese sauce and chili on your hot dogs and fries. aka cheese fries every time! Something to check first is the heat. Though the food is yummy most of the seating is outside so definitely not a great pick for a hot Florida day.
*Peco Bills (Magic Kingdom) not our favorite but not bad either. has a topping bar similar to Casey's corner but for burgers and more Mexican style food. the seating is a little harder since its a smaller area but always do-able for us.
*Pinocchio Village (Magic Kingdom) We just discovered this cozy place on our last visit. It was super easy to find a table and the food was so good. They serve lots of comfort food like chicken parm, spaghetti, buffalo chicken sandwiches and still some chicken nuggets for the kids. If your lucky a seating area in this restaurant has a giant glass wall watching over the its a small world ride.
 *Cosmic Rays Starlight Café (magic kingdom) This is normally our go to place at the magic kingdom,. They serve burgers, chicken nuggets and BBQ. But our favorite part about it is the entertainment. They have this adorable alien (that seriously reminds me of Alf) that sings and plays piano in the dining room. My kids adore him and it keeps them easily entertained while my husband spends 15 min with hundreds of other people trying to get us lunch.
* Rainforest Café (Disney Springs) T-Rex café (Disney Springs) both of these places serve a wide verity of food from burgers to fajitas and pasta. The animatronic jungle animals or dinosaurs come to life about every 15 min and really liven the place us! Though the atmosphere is incredible be careful with small children as they might get scared from the noise leaving you spending lots of money to be miserable... 

*Pizzafari (Animal Kingdom)  Just as implied in the name this restaurant solely sells pizza and is so yummy. Very easy to get food quickly and find a seat easily. They also have options to eat inside or outside making it easy to have lunch or just sneak the stroller over to the outside table while the kids are napping to sneak a mommy and daddy snack.

Nap time = mommy snack time

Now for adult restaurants:
Sci Fi Café (Hollywood studios)  The atmosphere in this place is absolutely incredible! your table is a car set up as if its parked outside in a drive in theater. little sci fi clips play while you eat your meal keeping you busy, even the servers have vintage waitress dresses on. Love Love Love this place. (picture below)

Be our Guest ( Magic Kingdom) Completely submerge yourself into the world of one of your favorite princesses as you enter the breathtaking castle. The atmosphere in here is indescribable. you truly feel like a princess here and even get to take a picture with your prince The Beast after your meal. The castle also includes the beasts study with the famous rose and torn picture from the movie which you can walk around to take pictures of.

3. Fastpasses try to plan with rides that have the longest lines like: peter pan, its a small world, Winnie the pooh, Dumbo, space mountain, thunder mountain and character meetings. The earlier you plan them the better cause as soon as you use your 3 fastpasses you can go to any fastpass machine in the park and create more throughout the day and night. I cannot stress using a fast pass to meet a character the most. It really sucks when you finally get to your child's favorite character and Hershel is passed out asleep in your arms from waiting in line for 45 min. Speaking of characters set very low expectations for your child's reaction to characters... My 9 month old is all about she squeaks and smiles while meeting new characters, my two year old is the complete opposite. He is absolutely terrified of foam head character aka mickey mouse... Yet he loves Peter Pan, Aladdin, Princesses and other face characters. Seeing there real faces really gives him a sense of familiarity  about the character and makes him less uncomfortable and scared

Things they don't tell you:
The tram sucks for strollers my husband and I more time than not opt to just walk from our car to the gate rather than try to take down our double stroller and hold it with our two children and backpack..

monorail also not stroller friendly and they normally make you fold it down same as the tram which leaves us with,, The ferry boat! though it is much slower than the monorail the fact that I don't have to balance my two year old and nine month old and stroller and backpack/baby carrier makes it 100% worth the wait!

Huggies baby centers. There are baby centers in each park filled with highchairs for feedings, changing tables, a quiet room with rocking chairs for feedings, a small room with a movie and coloring area for toddlers that need some A/C and a store with all the diapers, baby food, formula, bottles and sunscreen your mommy brain could forget.

Baby's on rides : everyone knows the worst part about bringing a baby to a park is ride time.. someone is normally stuck with the stroller while everyone goes on rides and lets face it.. its normally us moms.. But the great part about Disney is all of the "any height" rides which is surprisingly almost all of them at Magic Kingdom (other than the big roller-coaster) you and your baby can go on!!! Yup, you read correctly no more stroller sitting! As long as your infant is strapped safely into a forward facing baby carrier you can join the rest of the gang to hit up almost any ride in the park!!

It is possible to stay on property without breaking the bank. The All store resorts and pop century resort have most of their regular room rates at about $75 a night! So you can give your munchkins a mickey room to look forward to for the same price if not cheaper than the holiday inn down the street. The trick is that they change prices throughout the day. bumping them up to more expensive at times people are typically on lunch break and getting off work and cheaper during mid afternoon.

Well that's all the tips and tricks I have for today but check back for more!!

Wild child

IDo you ever look at your children and think "thank God (insert child's name here) is the easy one? It's not that I don't love both my children equally.. I do! They both hold a special place my heart and are treasured equally in different ways. But my little boy who is now 2 can push my buttons like no other. He is a ball of energy and very high spirited. He doesn't slowly wind down.. he doesn't just have a bath than drift off to sleep. He's either full throttle or passed out on my rug.. there is no in between for him.

. he breaks ornaments, throws everything and anything, climbs and sits on my kitchen table while I'm in the potty, sits on his sister and yells 24/7. He takes up every once of energy and sanity I have because he is lots and lots of work and has to be watchhed every second for his own safety and his sisters.. lol but with all that being said he is the sweetest, cuddliest and is so much fun from his crazy dance moves to his wild imagination. But I can't help thinking how life would be if my daughter was also a high need child like him... and honestly I don't think I could handle it.. she can be fussy but nothing in campairison to him... my son runs and screams so loud constantly he has since the day he was born. When he was a baby we were actually scared to take him in public cause his hungry baby cry was like a dinosaur screech and would literally hurt your ears... as in my daughter would cry so whitely we could barely hear her over her brother she has always been a calm and peaceful spirit. But when the difference between them is most noticeable is bed time... with My son he needs a snack, milk, and cuddles till he falls asleep then you can move him from wherever he's crashed into his bed. So with my daughter on the other hand you just give her her nighttime bottle, put her in her crib with blanket , turn on her white noise machine and walk out.... she's down and out all on her own within 10 min.

And the most peaceful little sleeper I've ever seen.. sometimes I think I would chop off my left arm if my son would sleep as well as her... so as much as I love them both. I'm so thankful God has at least given me one easy going child instead of two raging terrors.. and on that note my son is jumping on my bed while yelling "sleep... wish me luck!!

Merry Christmas we're sweating our a$$e$ off

In case any of you don't know, my family and I live in Florida. Which means even though we are listening to songs of snowmen and frost.. We are actually hot as hell and sweating our asses off even during this chilly holiday time. At our house holiday time has been  crazy! My kids go back and forth trying to steal presents from around the tree.. but mostly go after ornaments... my son has already managed to decapitate 2 so far... even though we have a baby gate around the tree...

On top of that my son has also  decided he is terrified of bathes and will only take showers (some days neither) and my daughter is teething and going through a growth spurt at the same time... which means mommy is up every 2 hours all night and has left me feeling more like the grinch rather than a happy elf most days... To add on top of it Christmas is 3 days away and we still have a ton of gifts left to buy and even after we finally finish shopping and wrapping. I have to separate them into four different piles.... yup you heard me... not only do I have two kids under 2 but we also like to live our life to the max by shoving them in the car for 4 hours in one day and celebrate 4 Christmases in 36 hours. We're crazy I know. But I wouldn't have it any other way! We love our families so much that if the only way to see them all is to put ourselves in toddler car hell for 4 hours we will. But to add to this Christmas madness we don't even get a break from this heat. It's sooooo hot that when I walk out the door in my Christmas lularoe leggings my ass is sweating before I even get to my car (thank god they are patterned) but they are pretty cute and the only thing that makes me feel like an elf instead of grinch or krampus so I  deal with it. lol

See super cute right?
So in the midst of this heat our sweet niece came to visit from Michigan where it is of course snowing. And we decided to give her a week of Christmas she would never forget.. a beach day! Lol  we packed up what felt like 2 weeks worth of baby junk including, diapers,  clothes, sunscreen, toy, snacks, snacks, more snacks, a blanket to sit on at the beach (that ended up covered in sand anyway) anddd oh ya my kids lol  finally after the back end of my expedition was full to the max. we headed off on our adventure to the beach. Traffic is awful and took almost 2 hours for what's normally a 45 min drive.... then we remembered oh ya all the northerners are down here cause it's cold as the ice age up there.... after recollecting my husbands sanity and asking my niece to never repeat the colorful language she heard my husband yell out during our car ride... we packed up our arms and rolls wagon and walked down to the beach. We were there probably all of 5 min when my daughter decided she couldn't live another moment without food (the growth spurt and anger from teething) after getting her full and happy. I (as any good mom would do) started taking 500 pictures of my daughters first trip to the beach. Most of them turned out of her crying and attempting to crawl away from me but I got a couple good ones

This one is my favorite! Can you tell she's gonna be sassy just like me?

My son decided that even though he wouldn't even touch the chicken nuggets or fries we had bought him on the way to the beach that he was gonna chow down on one of the finer things in life... sand... 

he decided he liked it so much he would shovel it into his buckets to dump in his face and into his mouth.. why can't he use this much effort to clean his room?  Or at least just use this new dumping skill to drink out of one of the 35 sippy cups I have. but I got some sandy kisses so I'll take what I can get. The hubs built a sandcastle and played in the water with the kids while my son rolled around in the sand. I on the hand , sat on the blanket bouncing our fussy daughter in my lap for 4 hours..  After the fussing and getting all sweaty and sandy and sticky we decided to load our little butts back into the car for another dreadful ride home... 

after arriving home I got to give bathes, wash 5 pounds of laundry, make dinner, give another bath cause my son wouldn't let me wash his hair the first time, fold the 5 pounds of laundry. And pray someone would make an invention that makes sand instantly disappear from your floors and car... nope no magical object fell from the sky... just my broom waiting for me.. I think it was God telling me an invention already exists I just had to get off my butt and use it... but hey! At least my kids were exhausted and went to sleep early tonight so mommy could have a much needed glass of wine! Gotta love Christmas from sweaty Florida and idiots who think they can go on adventures with babies and toddlers like me lol 

Actual toddler madness

So if you ever decide "let's try to have a baby" try to remember that they don't just stay as babies... when you sign up to be a parent you are there for all the stages: the cute, cuddly, ugly, messy, loving, grossness, and just plain crazy. I always knew I wanted to be a mom. All I ever  wanted in life was to have two beautiful babies and stay home with them. I couldn't be more thankful that the Lord and my husband have given me that gift to live my dream with these beautiful little beings everyday. But I can't help but wonder if teenagers saw raw parenting.. if I could just document a day like today so they could see how difficult it really was if there would be less teen pregnancies and abortions just out of pure fear.. with that said let me explain my day that would cause this fear.. ever know how it feels to not pee for hours and hours? I do...  our sink and the tooth brush drawer is right next to the bathroom door.. and my son,  (who is obsessed with brushing his teeth) decided to grab his tooth brush and leave the bathroom. Closing the tooth brush drawer just enough that the door would close but somehow leaving it open just enough that the bathroom door would not open... so I had the pleasure  of working with it for over 30 min.. then finally giving up and waiting UNTIL MY HUSBAND GOT OFF WORK when he could finally fix it with a metal hanger.. now I know you most be thinking "ya that sucks but not too bad" well that my friend is just the beginning of the day. The best is yet to come.  So us parents being sneaky and resourceful like we are, have to come up with distracting games or ideas so our toddlers will play alone while we can finally get something done! So I had the glorious idea of opening my sons toy chest to keep him busy in his room while I sweep and mop the house. So I go check on him, he's sitting on the floor playing with his dinosaurs like an angel. I immediately rush off to the dining room to start sweeping the food covered floor from lunch... we have a relatively small dining room so it took probably all of 2 minutes... I go to check on my son and he's gone.. not in his room... not in his sisters room.. I suddenly notice the bathroom door standing open... I found my son standing elbows deep playing in toilet water.... which he so graciously also filled with  toilet paper to... yes it's moments like these I think no one really realizes what they are getting into when they are in the hospital and handed that little white, blue and pink blanket filled with a still innocent tiny angel.. and again this happened in just TWO MINUTES. So after washing his hands probably 5 times and germ x on top of it while he screamed the whole time..  oh the joys of parenting... sometimes I just want to stop and call my parents to apologize for doing this to them at one point.. yup I definitely think stuff like this is what should be shown in sex Ed rather than explaining other useless information like how to put condoms on bananas like teenagers somehow don't understand where the thing is supposed to go.. But anyways, even though there are no instructions for how to raise kids and no one ever realizes what they are getting into until they are washing the toilet water off their toddlers hands.. it is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. As my son is laying on my lap asleep, cuddling my leg while watching cars for the 507th time. I couldn't be more thankful for this crazy adventurous and MESSY boy I have been given. And also extremely thankful his little sister cannot walk or crawl yet....

Just that kind of freaking day

So idk if anyone has one of those days as a parent where they just want to hide and drink a margarita (or just eat a whole batch of brownies) and continue to hide... Today is that day... I have a (almost) 2 year old that won't sleep if his life depended on it. He keeps me up till midnight then wakes up 4 times a night with night terrors... Which are not just regular nightmares in case you are blessed enough to not experience them.. they are more like watching a scary movie and your child is the star. As he is passed out asleep but shrieks, screams "no" , cries and throws himself around and sometimes off his bed.. It's awful and absolutely horrific as a parent to watch. There is nothing to make it better and I can't even touch him or his night terrors just get worse as if whatever is getting him is the one he thinks is touching him... So in efforts to help him we watch no adult movies or shows unless he's asleep... All Sesame Street and Thomas the train for us and let's just say it's a nightmare... Never have I seen a more ignorant character than Thomas... Who even gave him his own branch line? she can't even follow simple directions!  Also we all see his engine driver doesn't he at least have a brain to know if you set bees free in a flower garden they won't come back to you? Or that statues won't eat syrup and fish? Also that it's hard to believe he's somehow lost when I just watched his driver read a freaking map for 3 min... Anyway to add onto my experiences of my almost 2 year old starting to act like a 2 year old. We also have a 5 month old... And she will be the death of me... I've never seen a baby more fussy in my life ... She has two modes : sleeping or crying.. You can hold her, feed her, change her, bounce her, sing to her, play games, pacifier, tylonal.. Nothing... I think she honestly hates us.. She makes the constant background noise of fussing, crying or yelling... They say they grow out of stages quickly and one day you'll miss the long, crying and temper tantrum days like today... And though normally I love it.. Days like today  (as I just got bit by my son while typing this) hope they are right..