My mothering.

Being a mother is definitely the most incredible thing I have done. Ever. Although, I am not the mother that I wanted to be and lately I have noticed this. I find myself mothering like I never intended to. As far as I was concerned, more then nine months ago, I was going to be a perfect mother.
Khage was never going to taste a lick of sugar until he was five, by this time he was supposed to know a caboodle of baby appropriate words in sign language. He was never going to fall asleep on the bottle and those nasty little germs were never supposed to ever grace his delicate baby skin. Instead, his eyes lite up while he sampled jelly beans with us yesterday, he knows one word in sign language and never uses it, frequently he falls asleep on the bottle with milk still dribbling down his adorable chin and today I caught Baggera licking him in his mouth while he belly laughed profusely.

This is my mothering.
And it has been torturing me to know that I am doing all those things I vowed to never do the day I held him in my arms for the first time.

I am the mother who sometimes doesn't get her baby out of jammies until two o'clock in the afternoon, it can be a couple days before I realize my baby hasn't breathed in the freshest of fresh air from the outdoors, and on occasion I will find a new scratch on his body and I will scramble around trying to find the cause of it because he was never supposed to get hurt on my watch.

"I'd like to be the ideal mother, but I'm too busy raising my kids."
^{Author Unknown.}
After coming across this quote online, while I was intent on finding some comfort for my lack of perfect parenting, I realized one thing:
I need to get off my own back.
I am not perfect, I have never been and being a mother wasn't sure to help that situation because now more then ever I find myself venturing into new territory. That lady at the grocery store can glare at me all she wants while I hand my baby a produce bag to fiddle with while I squeeze various types of fruits. Our family can call me out for allowing Khage to still use a pacifier when it was never intended in the first place. And I can just suck it up and enjoy this thing called parenting and accept that its not going to get easier just yet.

Khages siblings will eventually have the upper hand because by then I will be promoted from new mommy to an experienced one. Things wont happen as they do now.
I have learned that peas are a choking hazard to a seven month old, peanut butter isnt supposed to be in his diet until he turns one, if given a pen he will figure out how to click it into writing mode and ink will end up all over his chubby legs and that smirking face, and if given the opportunity to play in my makeup box he will consume as much eyeshadow as he can before its snatched out of his sweet little hands.

This is my mothering and I am doing my best.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
^{Author Rajneesh}

Can you guys see me?

Between the mismatched pajamas, the creepy center part in your hair, the baby wipe being used as a chew toy & our cupboard turned into a fort... your kinda hard to miss.

The face only a mother could...

PUT UP WITH.

Khage's little lazy rump.

When we bought Khage this little walker slash ride along dinosaur we intended for him to get some walking practice. Instead he preferred to ride on it while we pulled him around like a bunch of Clydesdale's.
He would just hold on tightflash this little smirkand giggle like a goon.
Then yesterday he just decided to get off his lazy rump and put in some work. Without any persuasion by us he just started using it to walk around all geriatric style looking for his dentures.

^{I love that little diaper butt.}

Nine Months

A few special facts about our little baguette:
It sounds like he says Dada & MomMom but we could be kidding ourselves
He absolutely loves playing with his toothbrush
All the sudden if he smiles really big he also squints his eyes really hard
If you tell him NO you risk getting slapped in the mouth
And because of that he now gets spanked... alot
We have no idea how he learned to waive hello
Sometimes we catch him standing on his own for brief little moments
He thinks he is so cool when he uses our low windowsill as a seat
He refuses to hold his own bottle and properly use his sippy cup
Daddy says he has a "pumpkin mouth" because he has teeth coming in everywhere
(Daddy is referring to what normal people call a Jack-O-Lantern)
When you help him walk he takes giant steps with his right and kinda drags his left leg along
If you say "shake yo bootay" he will give you a little jig
He has eight teeth
He can now pull things off the desk & table if he stands on his tippy toes
He requires the Backyardigans to finish most bottles
You gotta watch his hands when he gets a diaper change our else he is grabbing a dirty wiggy
He is such a big sharer and he will try to feed us with his nasty gummy hands
When Daddy is off for the weekends he refuses to eat and sleep on his normal schedule
He learned in less then two days how to slide off the couch without hurting himself
&
It is such a joy to watch him grow and it makes us feel utterly blessed that he is such a happy and healthy little boy. We couldnt feel more proud to be his Mommy & Daddy.

Just Keep Swimin.

Yes, this blog is about fish.
Hence the title tribute to Finding Nemo.
Our little family finally decided that, although spending relaxing weekends at home are nice, sometimes you just gotta get crazy and head to the aquarium. So we did just that.
We were pretty excited to introduce Khage to this magical world of life under the sea.... under the sea. (I stated that last phrase twice to keep up with the fish movie references... The Little Mermaid, just in case you needed some help).
We were sure he would love the colors and the movements of the fishes as they swam right up against the glass. And they had these little bubble things you could sit in and get as close as possible to being underwater without actually getting wet or attacked by the man eating stingrays. Khage was very serious the whole time as he watched everything moving about... he was not into any funny business like laughing or cracking even a smidge of a smile. Apparently the aquarium is no place for fun and games.
Op, here's a smile.

Hood rat.

Khage has this hoodie and we cannot get over how friggin adorable his little face looks all bundled in it. We got this hoodie for only 1 single buck and once you see it you will probably understand why. Most of the men in the family have one of these hoodies... including Brad, Jason, Trevor and Zach. And once winter rolls around they all like to bust them out and every time I try to walk at least fifteen feet behind them in public. But Khage is growing into a mini version of his father so it was pointless to fight the inevitable... so he too got himself a MexiHoodie.
While this hoodie is rough on the eyes this little hood rat couldn't be cuter.





Isn't this last picture of him sticking his tongue out just too darling? He is still young enough to get away with such acts of vengeance. Soon enough that little number is going to be followed up by a little soap in the month. Something I am looking forward to by the way. And that is not backed up by hostility towards Khage... I am just looking forward to enforcing future disciplinary actions on all my children.

Pinterest

I love Pinterest. I cannot get enough of that place. When Khage is napping and the dishes are washed, laundry is folded, and I have watched all that I can on Netflix... I pinterest.

(And sometimes not in that exact order).

But I refuse to be one of these people

So I actually do all most some of my pins.

Here are the pins that I have done, my opinions on them and some minor improvements if necessary.

These burritos are amazingly delicious and this recipe makes at least 16 of them to freeze for later. Brad & I loved them... they were so easy to make... and fast for those of you who dont have time for a hearty breakfast {like Brad} or those who refuse to wake up to make that hearty breakfast {like me}.

This recipe for homemade OxyClean really did work. It did remove stains... but it failed to leave a nice little airy fresh scent like the real OxyClean. Something we prefer to fork over seven bucks for.

I swear by this carpet cleaning solution. I have lived in a number of rental homes and it is always a fear of mine to permanently damage the carpet and therefor have to pay to replace it. But this solution not only cleaned up all of our little stains but also removed the one stain that remained even after the professional cleaners had left.

These cake balls are amazing and so easy. I made two batches, the first one I followed the directions completly and the second one I only used 3/4s of a container of frosting. The batch with the less frosting was better, it wasnt as sweet at the original recipe. I would rather less sweet so I can have more... just saying.

Oh man were these little badboys amazing? Yes. Yes they were.

Heres a tip for you: remove the brownies before you splodge in the peanut butter or else good luck diggin them out of the muffin pan without destroying thier cute little muffin look. Aside from that they were simply delicious.

Isnt this lens buddy so cute! It is supposed to gaurantee a smile from you little wees everytime. Well he and a few of his friends are sold on etsy ranging from $5 bucks to $30. But because I am the ultimate DIY enthusiast (or if we wanna take it back to grad-school: ultimate copycater) I kept my money and made this guy myself.

To make this all you need is wood or canvas, a staple gun, and some lovely fabric. It was pretty simple... although I do recommend two sets of hands for the streatching & stapling. If you choose to go the route we did and make your own fabric streatchers with wood be sure the wood is absolutly flat when laid against the wall or your gonna have corners that wanna pop off the wall. We ended up having to take them down, soak the wood with the hose (with the fabric left on), dry them in trash bags (to make sure the fabric didnt get dirty, and rehang them.

And this guy is down right genius. It has saved me quite the hassle when hanging frames... the biggest problem we had with these little dudes was getting them since were not soda drinkers.

Thirsty Anyone?

The other day Brad wasn't feelin well and he needed some NyQuil so he ran off to the store. Just in case you feel like putting me on trial for being the unkind and cruel wife who didn't go to the store for her sick husband, I would like to add that I did offer. But Bradley also wanted tea and he didn't trust me to pick out his new tea flavor... yes he takes his tea that serious.

Lets just get back on topic.

When Brad arrives home he pulls a little something out of the grocery bag and proceeds to tell me how he got me a surprise.

 Yes. Olive Oil Nourishing Sheen Spray. 

So what I am telling you is that Brad was exhausted, congested and coughing and yet he still found it necessary to visit the ethnic hair care section to find me some assistance with this ragamuffin mop I call hair.

  

All I have to say is, its nice to finally know what Brad thinks about my hair... dry, thirsty & in need of some sheen!

And sick or not Brad just couldn't stand it anymore.

Please excuse me while I go quench its thirst!

Work it Khagey.

 Khage's first semi-professional modeling gig. 

And I use the term semi-professional loosely because as of now we both could use alot of work; me on my photography skills and him on listening to the photographer's direction. He refused to look at the camera just about the whole time... therefor I made his feet, hands, and even his booty the main focus a time or two or three. I even brought a rattle to get his attention, Wilbie to get him to smile and I was making obnoxiously loud farm animal noises the whole time thinking he would at least give me one of those your so silly mom but I will smile just so then maybe you will stop kinda looks. All of which couldn't compete with the many things that were stealing his attention, like the dirt, and rocks, and the spat out sunflower seeds that he found on the ground in the dug out... and that I later found in his mouth.

 But boy doesn't he look so darn cute all jeans cuffed at the bottom and barefoot. I am so glad I get to keep this kid.

The one above looks all 1950's little boy on a ranch.

 I just dont know if it can get any more adorable then that.

Oh wait yes it can continue on down...

 And here's hoping we got ourselves a little t-ball player

Oh and do you like my jamee mae photography stamp? 

Yeah I'm legit!