Mommy Monday: Sloane is 5 months old!

 

 

To Our Darling Daughter,

     You are 5 months old now and have grown and changed in so many ways. You have started eating solid food almost once daily. So far you have had sweet potatoes, apples and peas. You started out not really knowing what to do with these crazy flavors and textures but you have really grown to enjoy solid foods and and almost all of it actually gets eaten.
     You have figured out how to army crawl this month and that has opened up a whole new world for you. You crawl all over the floor going from toy to toy. Your favorite toy is actually your jumper. you love bouncing around in there and playing the music.
     This month we also celebrated your first Easter. We had our family and friends over for the day and you were all dressed up in your Easter dress you got from your Aunt Brenda. This holiday you did really well, laughing and playing with everyone until it was your nap time.
     Sloane you have become such a strong a beautiful little lady. Daddy and I know you are going to do so many amazing things in your life and we can't wait to be right there supporting you.

Love you Lots
Mommy and Daddy

Mommy Monday: My changing world view

Welcome to another Mommy Monday! It's amazing how my outlook on the world has changed. I remember all the things I said I wouldn't do before having a child. Also I remember how annoying parents and their children were before I had a child and how I said I would never be like them. I have quickly realized that being a parent is a lot about survival and a lot of the things you said you wouldn't do suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

I was at Walgreen's the other night and a little girl was hanging out over by the door leaning and banging on the theft detector. Her father was a little ways away in line. He tried to get her to come back over by him but she was enthralled by whatever was by the door. I though the whole time that the child was adorable and just trying to explore the world. My friend who was with me however thought the child was out of line and that the parent should have controlled the little girl more. My friend said the little girl was banging and leaning on the theft detector so hard she could have broken it. This is when I realized how my views have changed since having a baby. I understand the parents side so much more. If the dad had tried to get the daughter away from the door it most likely would have resulted in a fit, which as parents you try and avoid as much as you can.

Now don't get me wrong I don't think you should ignore teaching your child manners and the correct way to behave but there are some times when you should just let your child have a little freedom to explore while you also get to keep your sanity. Children learn from trial and error, even if it is doing something annoying in public.

I'm also not saying that I think parents should allow there children to run around stores and do whatever they want, I think I just get less annoyed by it now. Especially at work, I remember always thinking people were so horrible if they had their baby cry and they didn't do anything to sooth it. I have learned from my very vocal baby that sometimes they just cry. Well Sloane usually cries when she is tired and the best thing to do for her while in public is to let her cry covered in her car seat otherwise she'd get over stimulated and never fall asleep.

I don't want to cause some debate on the importance of parenting with anyone but I just thought I'd share how my thoughts about the world around me have changed.

If you have kids, did you have changes in your thoughts like this? Also if you don't have kids how do you view parents and kids in public and what would you wish you saw more of? IE: disciplining, containing to carts, leashes?

Sometime's things just happen that you have no control over

Well I know I have tweeted about this situation and maybe not in the most flattering way possible but that is simply because tweets are meant to be in the moment. I rarely think through a tweet but react in the moment. Sometimes when I'm in a moment I express feelings that aren't necessarily how I feel about everything but an emotionally charged reaction to feeling hurt or betrayed. Anyways I have done lots of reflecting and I know that it is impossible to go back the way things were with this old friend I had, but I'm feeling OK with that these days.

This friend I had has been a friend to me for many years. I have to add that we have been friends off and on over these years. Most arguments start with a disagreement over a boy which is quite sad but a fact. We first became friends in high school when I moved to Kirkland. She was the first person to offer me a place to eat at lunch. We were inseparable all through high school to the point that people were annoyed by us. We were such fun loving girls who went to school together, worked together and went on family vacations together. Our first fight was in high school when we were fighting over a boy we worked with. We went weeks without talking and grew apart in the process. Unfortunately a horrible thing happened to this friend and we realized how much we meant to each other so our friendship began just where it had left off, like no time had passed. We had an amazing senior year and made so many great memories that I will remember for my entire life.

The summer after we graduated she met her future husband and our relationship drifted once again. We were growing apart in two different directions. We didn't have any real conflicts and we still worked with each other. I was even in her wedding. But our friendship wasn't the same( I was in the party hard stage of my life and she was settling down).

We started to become close again when she started having struggles in her life. I wanted to be there for her and help her through the hard times. I gave her an escape from the life that had made her depressed and in turn I had gotten my friend back. It was so nice to have these fun times with her again and we were building amazing memories once again. We were both helping each other grow but with grown comes changes and once again we started heading in two different directions. She had developed a new found freedom and she wanted to experience everything she hadn't in the past few years while I was settling down and had a different outlook on life. I admit that as the friend looking into her life I was concerned about her getting hurt since she had become so fragile in her struggles in the past. I felt the need to protect her (in her eyes it even looked like I was trying to control her) I didn't want her to struggle anymore and of course being the strong willed women I am, I thought I knew what was best for her.

This friend of mine is also a very strong willed women and she wanted to experience life her way. This in turn caused us to butt heads once again. Yes the arguments seemed to usually stem from relationships with men but I have learned that they were much deeper than that. We are just two very strong women with two different outlooks on how to live life. I admit that I was more to blame for our friendship ending in the end. I just couldn't sit by and watch my friend put herself in situations where I knew she could end up crying over.

So I guess I am using this blog as a bit of closure on this situation. I want to say sorry to everyone that has had to be in the middle of all of this unnecessary drama. I also want to wish my old friend all the best in her life. I know that she will do well. She is strong willed and she knows what she wants and she goes for it. I'm glad to see she is living a happy life and she has so many friends to support her and be there for her.

Who knows we've become friends again in the past so you never know what the future holds. I know that if either of us truly needed each other we would be there and I guess that's all you really need in life sometimes.