You know you're a Mom when...

You manage to walk through an entire store without noticing your jacket is inside out...what's better is it isn't the first time.

Since giving birth you have developed Paul Bunyan like strength and can carry your 24lb toddler strapped to your chest and groceries weighing the same amount up 3 flights of stairs without having a heart attack.

You have no clue what day of the week it is EVER!

When you hear people say in a store "gosh who's kid is that?" (talking about a screaming child)..Yes...they are talking about YOU now.

You could probably drink 2 cups of coffee, a red bull and 3 espresso shots at 8pm and fall asleep by 9pm.

Parking lots are now like battlefields. People drive way to fast, don't stop for crosswalks and children are constantly darting out from between cars. Your mission - Just get out alive!

Every morning when your "alarm" aka "your screaming child" goes off you look at the monitor through one half opened eye and wonder if you could slyly turn it off and catch a few more zzzzz's.

As your child gets older and learns to communicate more you start to feel more and more stupid by the day as they become smarter.

When you finally go to a store to purchase an item for yourself you end up leaving the store with nothing but things for your child.

Your idea of the perfect day consists of taking a longer than 2 minute shower, going to the bathroom without an audience and being able to hear yourself think.

You feel like your brain is on hyper drive all day long....you're constantly scanning for ways your child will try to hurt themselves and have become aware of just how dangerous this world is.

While you own probably a dresser full of clothes, you choose to wear the same 5 t-shirts over and over.

Since becoming a mom you have become extremely apologetic to your own mom about all the terror you must have put her through :)

and finally....

You know you're a mom when at the end of every day you feel exhausted, beat up and defeated but you will get up tomorrow and every day after that and do it all over again because your child needs you and you love them. Being a mom is one of the hardest job in the world but I am stronger now than I have ever been. And even though sometimes it feels like I'm sinking....when I look at Jackson's beautiful face and the joy he gets from the little things I think...this is why it's all worth it!

He is definietly my son!

Pretty much every negative quality of mine since birth Jackson has unfortunately inherited. He had colic like a mad man and sensitive skin which led to a spendy trial and error process with soap, wipes and diapers. He is extremely "Spirited" and what I call "passionate" about life :) And he attempts to push what I think each day is my last button till the next day when he finds a new one. We struggle with his eating and getting him to gain weight which also has been a very costly process.

However despite all of this he is my beautiful son and I would do anything in this world for him and wouldn't change a single thing about him (except for maybe if he would sleep a little more).

Awhile ago I was cutting up some olives for dinner and he kept begging for some so I said what the heck have one! His eyes lit up like he'd seen Santa Claus and a tiny little "mmmmm" could be hear as he gnawed away at that delicious morsel. Many people may know that I am a huge fan of olives and while Jesse tolerates them in small quantities he is in no way a "fan" of olives. Tonight I introduced Jackson to the the "Olive hand". Boy oh Boy this kid is DEFINITELY my son!!

hmmmmm what shall I do with these

oh that's right! EAT THEM!!! num num num

so delicious!

out of everything on his plate...what does he eat first?!?!

    

What we affectionately call "The Creepy Walk"

Jackson has such a huge personality and loves to provide us with many laughs throughout the day!

One of our favorites is what we call "The Creepy Walk!" All you have to do is say "Jackson, do the creepy walk" and he gets it done!

Daily Embarrassment......the new normal

Now that we are full blown into the terrible 2's (clearly it should be changed to "the terrible 16months-?????" I have found that daily embarrassment set forth by my child is the new normal.

Last week Jackson and I went into Jo-Ann's to pick up a few things. Because I know that Jackson has a very limited attention span and ability to be good in stores I prepare myself to be in mommy hyper speed mode once we have entered the stores. On this visit I had everything prepared...snack-check, water-check, paci-check, books/toys-check and I went in on a mission!

Jackson did great until we reached the dreaded check-out line :(  

First of all I have no idea why every single time i go into a craft store they only EVER have 1 checkout person working. why?!?! Second of all who in their right mind writes checks for $5.00 worth of craft supplies?!?!?! Apparently in Colorado writing checks for small purchases is all the rage. After being in line for 10minutes watching Jackson start to squirm, I can tell that we only have maybeeee 5min max left before he looses it. I start digging through my arsenal of distraction items, luckily a nice lady comes in line behind us and since Jackson is SUCH a people person he finds great joy in chatting away with this lady. FINALLY it's our turn! I was so anxious about getting us out the store I didn't notice how close I had parked the cart and my grubby handed child to the gift card display. So....clearly not by any surprise to anyone, Jackson reaches his arm out and knocks over the entire gift card display. I'd say probably about 100 gift cards are all over the floor and the 10 people in line are staring me down while i pick up every last gift card.

This has become such a daily occurrence at this point that I don't lose my cool anymore. I simply fix whatever thing Jackson has destroyed, tell him we don't do that, apologize to the cashier and swiftly leave the store.

However, while I do keep my cool in the store I typically spend the 10min drive home crying quietly to myself from embarrassment.

I explain these occurrences to Jesse and how difficult they are but I don't think he truly understood until Jackson gave him a good taste of it in Costco & Walmart this week. Jackson's tantrums have recently turned from general grunts and jibber jabber of frustration to blood curdling screams. Jackson in all his glory let out the biggest one yet at the entrance of Costco a few days ago....so loud and sudden that people in the bakery section at the very back of costco all the way down to where we were at the entrance turned and starred. Oh yes...I wanted to pull my hood over my face and lay down on the floor in the fetal position. But a last I am 26 and not 2 so we kept moving and about 3min later Jackson was just fine. The look on Jesse's face was priceless though....a complete deer in headlights :) For a moment it did feel good to have Jesse there with me though sharing in the embarrassment.

For now we will limit our outings and hope that this intense stage will pass soon!

The many faces of Jackson

Now I have always thought that Jackson was  a funny and "spirited" child with a personality that just bursts out of him but it really didn't dawn on me just how expressive he is until the pictures I took of him this morning :)

Here are the many faces of the wild,crazy, loveable, silly and sometimes challenging Jackson:

mischievous

Blue Steel

The look I give him when he's being naughty...uncanny how accurate he does that

surprised

whoaaaaa

Cookie Monster!

While at Target yesterday I discovered that the limited edition Peppermint Oreos were out, yay! Since it was going to snow (which is sure did!) and Jesse was out of town which meant I naturally was feeling a bit sad and lonely, I obviously had to purchase these delicious treats!

Jackson has recently learned how to say Cookie "ookie" and when he saw the package and that little grin came across his face I just HAD to let him have one :) I'm a sucker for that grin and his sweet little voice (when he's not screaming) ;) As soon as he took that first bite and I heard the "mmmmmm" I knew that I had created a monster!

I will get you cookies!

rarrrrrr

 

Yeah I got a cookie mom...whatcha gonna do about it?!?