Mother Business… looking for tips

       Oh hello.

“What have you been up to?” Nothing out of the norm for me, just watching kids and occasionally getting better at it. In fact, I am now confident enough to embark on a shopping trip with my two little ones by myself. A small accomplishment for some, but I will take it, especially since the thought alone used to give me anxiety. Going before naps works best and stashing a bit of treats for severe circumstances has been a life saver. Now if only all grocery stores were as 2- kid friendly as Costco with their shopping carts.

We were convinced that Tennessee would be walking before Boston but now we have our doubts. Tennessee doesn’t want to crawl, he wants to walk… NOW! Attempting to crawl will bring him to tears and fits of crying… unless he is after a laptop, iphone, or the vacuum. Then it is an entirely different story. When he wants something he becomes Mr. Determined Baby and moves in whatever way possible to obtain it. He bypassed the army crawl to the ‘seal crawl’ and occasionally will rise up on all fours to take a step or two.  

Last weekend we hired our very first babysitter (usually we trade off with friends or my sista will watch the two) so we could attend a Diamond Rio concert. Crazy these guys have been relevant for 25 years! Having only attended one other concert, that of Taylor Swift, I wasn’t a big fan of the concert scene for a few reasons.  1st off she was the size of a G.I. Joe gummy bear, 2nd standing for three hours in order to see her perform because everyone else is standing grows old quickly, and 3rd turns out I didn’t pay money to hear her sing but it was to hear her and everyone else sing. Ugh, not a fan. The Diamond Rio concert was a much better experience. I was able to sit and listen to just Diamond Rio perform their music. My husband is one of those people who likes to sing along, but thankfully I don’t mind him so much. (:

After the concert, while everyone hurried out of the auditorium to stand in line for autographs, we sat and chitchatted in our seats for a bit. Then who should walk by but all of the Diamond Rio band members with no one else! Talk about opportune photo moment!!! If only I could have persuaded my husband to follow me quick enough to take the picture (it’s not like I could have asked one of them… and like I said there was nobody else walking with them). So we ended up waiting until the very end (yep, the last in line) to take a few individual photos with Jimmy Olander and Marty Rio.

While we were waiting for the line to die down, we chatted with our friends from church the Truman brothers, who had opened the show along with Raquel Cole.

After reading an article encouraging parents to help their children become more independent with simple daily routines, I tried putting it to use with Boston this past month. He has a bit of a screaming passion, so at first it was a lot easier and faster to do everything myself. But after working on undressing and dressing these past few weeks, he can undress himself and is half way there in dressing himself. I also have included him in breakfast preparation and was surprised to see how observant he is. After deciding on pancakes, I asked him to get a few ingredients out and place them on the counter. After doing so, he returned to the shelves to grab the oil, an ingredient I had failed to mention but one he had seen me use before when preparing this recipe. Now making meals is a lot quicker with Boston helping. He enjoys vacuuming and will throw away dirty diapers without being asked. He drops his dishes in the sink… something I hold my breath on every time for fear they will break. What other areas do you have your children help out with?

Well that’s about all that is happening for us around here. And now for the baby update! Isn’t he a cutie?!

Where has the time gone? Can you believe Halloween is almost here?! Last year we had two costumes for Boston… this year we have none with only a week left to find something. What will your kiddo’s be dressing up as?