Preston labels his parts

Mama said there'd be days like this

When you become a mom, parts of you change for the better and parts of you change for the worse.

I have become more laid back with Preston. At first, when he was a newborn, I was a nervous wreck over everything. As Preston has grown, I don't worry as much as I used to and tend to not sweat the small stuff as much. I remembered crying when Preston was around 3 months old because I spilled an ounce of breastmilk accidentally, and breastfeeding was so hard for me that every ounce mattered. I just wanted to do everything right. I am long past those days and feel much more at peace over my role as a mom. Like I always say, perspective is a beautiful thing! It's much easier to say that now, compared to how I felt this time last year. 

On the flip side, I have become increasingly hard on myself. I REALLY want to be supermom. I want to work full-time, have a home cooked meal on the table every night at 5:30, play for hours with Preston, have a designer home, and for Brian and I to always enjoy each other.

A moment of enjoyment from the weekend with friends.

It's impossible to always be perfect, I know. But several times over the course of the last year, I have made mistakes and it's bothered me much more than it should have. I am working really hard on laughing at these moments, rather than having a freak out/adult tantrum.

Let's take Thursday night for example. I was having a major allergy attack, and for the past few months, Brian has been working later than he ever did before. I try to plan meals the best I can, and had prepared an awesome crock pot dinner that morning before work so we would all have food when we got home. Preston and I got in the door around 5:30, and I went to check on the food in the crock pot. It was exactly as I left it, completely uncooked. I had turned it on, but didn't plug the stupid thing in the outlet. I completely lost it. Brian walked in the door after a hard day, and I just unloaded on him and cried and flipped out about how I do everything wrong (drama mama moment). All the while, Preston ate a Gerber Graduates baby dinner I so desperately tried to keep from feeding him.

Clearly, Preston was enjoying his treat. :)

Thank goodness for that perfect smile.

I immediately called my mom (which I tend to do nightly) for some of her more experienced, wiser perspective. Growing up, I remember thinking she was supermom. In fact, I talked with the rest of my family recently about this and they were all in agreement. :) Not only were the three of us in matching smocked outfits that she sewed for us all the time, but we had home cooked meals nearly every night. I am pretty sure by the time I turned 16, I could count on two hands the amount of times my family had eaten out at a restaurant. Not to mention she taught school full-time and piano lessons on and off through the years. I sometimes think of my childhood as idealistic. No major issues, everything was wonderful and great, and my mom and dad were perfect, and my brothers and I had a lot of fun together. Even though that is what I saw and how I remember it, that doesn't mean that is how it WAS. Now that I am a mom, I know that a perfection in parenting doesn't exist. But I am so thankful I have her to talk me off the ledge, when I am about to have a panic attack over an uncooked crock pot dinner!!! :)

She tells me stories about how she had all three of us in the grocery store when one of us accidentally tripped her, and she fell and hurt herself badly in the story. Or times when she ruined dinners, or was sick and still had the three of us to take care of, or lost her temper, or couldn't "sleep train" us because she couldn't stand to hear us cry so I didn't sleep through the night until I was almost two. My favorite is the time she was extremely pregnant with my youngest brother, and had a 3 year old and a 16-month-old. Somehow, our dog got out and my mom tried to chase him down the street and because she was so pregnant, lost her balance, fell and broke her arm. She delivered my brother Joe a few weeks later with a sling on her arm.

The important lesson is that, I don't really remember any of that and those aren't the moments I think back to. I want the same for Preston. For the majority of his memories to be good ones. I don't want him to look back on a mom that freaked out all the time, over small things. I remember growing up, my mom used to tell us all the time to pray for patience. I find myself doing that throughout the day. Praying for patience. Slowly but surely, my prayers might be answered, probably around the time Preston turns 16 and then I'll lose it over driving. :)

Earth Day

We actually celebrated Earth Day on Sunday, 4/22 by taking P to My Big Backyard at the Botanic Gardens. Brian's mom, Preston's "Mimzie", joined us. We played, fed the koi fish in the pond and had a nice picnic under a shady tree. It was a great day!

We've been really into making our own popsicles lately with fruit and coconut milk. They are addictive, and P begs for them. It sticks the whole thing in his mouth and makes this awful face because the popsicle is cold. He is so funny sometimes!

The night before Earth Day, we had a really fun night on the town with some of our friends. My aunt watched P for us and we had drinks and sat on the porch with a fire over at our friends' Ashlea and Sean's house on Mud Island. Every time I cross the bridge and go on the Island, I feel like I am getting away from Memphis. After a few hours, we continued the party over at the Green Beatle. It was great to get out for a night and spend some time with dear friends. :)

Easter weekend and more

Long post ahead!

I have to start with congrats to three of my closest girlfriends from college all having babies within a couple weeks of each other! Just the coolest thing ever. Congrats Natasha (baby girl Caroline), Adrianne (baby boy Collier) and Leslie (baby boy Davis). I love you girls, and cannot wait for our little ones to play together! Here is the last time we were together at Natasha's baby shower in Nashville back in February.

Me & P, Hurt, Adrianne, Leslie, Natasha, Bev, Candice and Meg.

I don't know if they called each other and planned this, but either way it's pretty exciting for them to be so close in age ;)

So, onto Easter...

I'll start with Palm Sunday the weekend before, because P was dressed in an adorable outfit. It was Brian's when he was little, and had the sweetest trains on it. He also really enjoyed playing with the palms from church. :)

The palm immediately turns into a weapon.

We had dinner outside that night :)

Friday, Preston had the day off of school and I had the day off of work, so we enjoyed the morning with his godmother Robyn, and his future wife Avery and her mom Michelle. Brian had to work - boo.We took a nice walk on the Greenline, Preston ran around Robyn's house trying to break her nice things, and got THRILLED when John Michael walked through the door for lunch. It was hysterical! He took JM toys and books. JM would just look at Preston, and Preston would belly laugh. It was great.

Firiday afternoon we got the great news that my brother and his girlfriend were officially engaged, making Easter weekend extra exciting! They are really so perfect for each other. To be honest, it's kind of weird when your little brother gets engaged - I mean, how did he grow up?!?! I guess that is just the big sister in me :) We are thrilled for them!!! It's really funny how excited Brian is. When Mark ordered the ring, it took like 6 weeks for it to come in, and everyday Brian would want me to call or text my brother or parents to see if it arrived. Haha! Also, my youngest brother is in the final stages of buying his first house. I made me feel so good when he wanted to go look at houses with me, and wanted me opinion in it all. I think we picked a good one ;) There is so much to celebrate this Easter season, and the Chando side is feeling very blessed!

We celebrated the engagement and Easter with my side on Saturday. Of course, poor Melissa had gotten no sleep, was in a t-shirt and Mark was moving out of his apartment, so they were not very prepared for my impromptu photo shoot. I think we got some good ones though, and her ring is SO beautiful!

Preston was really good this year, so the Easter bunny stopped at our house and both grandparents houses. Here are a few shots of him at Mimi and Mook's (my parents). Yes, the Easter bunny Mimi brought our son a broom and dust pan. He LOVES to clean!

Mimi has lots of toys.

The Hess truck that belonged to Mark and Joe.

Telling people about the engagement!

He really wanted my dad's drill.

Best family pic of the day! That's what you get with a squirmy little boy.

/

"Did I do something bad?"

Playing the piano with mommy.

He walked around their backyard with his toy wheelbarrow and picked up eggs. Mimi and Mook were also a huge help in watching him for a couple hours while Brian and I finalized everything for our bathroom remodel. Woo hoo!

Sunday morning, we got up and got ready for church. Preston immediately discovered his Easter basket and  immediately pulled out the MOO book. If you have a child (preferably a little boy) you've got to get these books. P is obsessed with his DOG book, and had a fit over MOO. He also got an Etch-a-Sketch and another book he loves at school called The Greedy Python. He loves anything with Eric Carle illustrations.

Sweet outfit my mom smocked!

We hurried out the door to get to church, because that is always how it is at our house. We decided to go to St. Francis to see my mom perform. I knew we could just leave P in the church nursery so all I packed were some diapers, food and water. When we got there, much to our surprise, the nursery was closed! Apparently, the nursery had become the outside the church near the fountains with a bunch of parents "technically" at church, but really chasing their children. I mean, what?!?! Of course, my family is sitting at the front of the church. At least they were on the end of the pew. Brian and I thought, okay, we can do this, we'll just take P in with us. He did great for the first few minutes, but by the end of opening song "Jesus Christ is Risen Today!" P was already wanting to run up and down the aisles. Brian snatched him up and stood in the back with him. I turned around and they were gone. A couple minutes later, I heard my phone (which I thought I turned off!) make a beep. Here's what my text said:

I showed it to my dad and we cracked up! The door to the nursery was open, so Preston and Brian helped themselves to the toys. Before communion, I left the church, walked outside and found them playing. They came back and sat with us for the last 10 minutes. My dad took Preston and sat him on his knee. Our wild child was bucking his legs, squirming all over the pew, and eating Goldfish. We had lost control, and by this point, it was just funny. An Easter Mass we will never forget!

That afternoon, we headed over to the Fields for more Easter celebrating. The Easter bunny left some goodies over there for him in the form of a jack-in-the-box and a toy lawn mower. They are both awesome and hilarious at the same time! P loves them both! You should have seen him going up and down their hallway pushing the lawn mower. They had a great dinner, and we played over there until it was time for Preston to go to bed. He did a lot of egg hunting over there, too!

Opening his lawn mower with daddy and aunts Britt and Mal.

Mimzie and Mal helping Preston. 

Look at that stance!

Can you believe this was Preston last year? Where does the time go?!

Easter 2011

Brian was out of town most of the last week and working extra on top of that, so I was a single parent for the majority of the time. I don't know how they do it! I have to say, P is at the point where he is pretty easy. It really wasn't that bad with him. I do not sleep when Brian is not home or traveling, so that was more of my issue.

While B was gone, we played, P celebrated a friends birthday at school by devouring a cupcake, and he played with one of his fav toys at school. An African American baby doll. He loves her!

We rounded out the week with a 7 p.m. trip to the night clinic because there was some gunk in Preston's eyes. I thought maybe it was just allergies, but my "mom instinct" radar was going off, so better safe than sorry. Brian (who had just gotten back into town) came with us, thank goodness, because the doctor walked in and immediately said "classic pink eye!" Great. So, my mom got a sub and staying home with him while I did this...

Well, actually I had a meeting at channel 3 and maybe pretended to do the weather. :) Thanks mom for taking a day and staying with him, so I could work.

Anyway, B's home, P's sleeping, so our family is complete again. Here's to an eventful couple weeks, surrounded by family!