Martha Metzler.com

Bud the boy,

You are 15 months and full of life, joy, stubborn will, and curiosity. No one warned me of the way that love daily collides with baffling exhaustion when you have a kid. But I adore you and being your mama.

Here are some little things that I just don’t want to forget about you at this age:

– The way you hum a steady note when you are doing something that requires concentration like taking your blocks apart or emptying a box full of stuff or pretending to vacuum.

– You sing along with me now and oh my goodness, you love to sing.

– Please stop biting me. For real.

– When something is funny or anyone else laughs, you just throw your head back and open-mouth laugh, it’s hilarious.

– You are starting to want to talk in full sentences but I have no idea what you are saying. But YOU do, and you say it with such conviction and voice inflection that I end up agreeing with whatever you just said! (But the real answer is no, you can’t have a pony)

– You still furrow that brow of yours and I never have to wonder what you’re thinking because you are so expressive!

– You still want to point to everything you want, especially at nighttime you point to every single book so we end up reading 3 or 4.

– You still make the “all done” and “more” signs at meal times but you will not say it!

– You are obsessed with sitting in doodoopops mustang (or any car really) and pretending to drive.

– You love the vacuum and throw a complete tantrum when its time to put it away.

– You love anything with buttons and go straight to a lightswitch anytime you see one in the room. The other day you turned off all the lights in the restaurant bathroom and we heard a bunch of ladies scream from the stalls….. I laughed. And then ran.

– Anytime you drop anything I hear “uh oh”.

– 23.5 lbs, 31.5 inches long

– You walk like a drunken sailor and I love it. But you are super clumsy and covered in bruises that I’m convinced the people at the supermarket will call CPS.

– You can make all kinds of animal sounds and pick them out on a page but you still won’t actually say their names.

– I can ask you to do things now like, “can you go get your shoes please?” and you.actually.do.it. I could get used to this!

– You are still wanting Mama, especially in new situations but we’ll tackle this separation anxiety my Bud! I have a feeling things will be much better once Dada comes home.

– You have learned to walk, wrestle with Roy the dog, and moved back across the country.  You are amazing me and testing me daily and I wouldn’t trade these 15 months for anything.

We missed Sam like crazy this year but we still had a great time this Halloween! Bud was an astronaut in sticking with our space theme for the year. I made his costume which lets be real, is a pretty big deal for me. I wanted it to be warm and comfortable and good for the rain because I don’t know if you know this or not, but in the PNW it rains everyday, just FYI.

1. I sewed some accents into his grey sweatsuit and then added a jet pack…. yep, a jet pack.

2. For the jet pack: I spray painted some club soda bottles silver. Then spray painted a piece of cardboard silver. I’m an idiot and forgot to spray both sides, womp womp. Then I super glued the bottles on to the cardboard and made some holes for the string. I just made the straps out of string and prayed he wouldn’t rip it off before I got a picture. I made the flames out of felt and superglued those bad boys in the bottles. He felt pretty badass wearing his jetpack so it was a win!

And for me, I was Rosie the Riveter because I felt it was only appropriate with the man at war and woman power yada yada. We went out with my friend Kim and her little strawberry Adalynn. Kim’s husband is deployed with Sam so we kept each other company and every time the kids would fuss we’d look at each other and laugh and say, “We can do it!”

So, we can do it. God help us but we’re doin’ it!!

FASTER!

This boy of mine is loud, curious, stubborn, expressive, loves to laugh, and loves to wrestle. He loves his doggy, his books, and he loves to push his mama’s limits. Some days are longer than others, but I choose to seek joy in every.single.situation. When he screams, I praise God he has a voice. When he hits, I praise God that he has the capability to move his little arms. When he giggles, I throw my head back and laugh with him because I know that laugh is as good and true as the sun in the sky.

Living in the military community, we know all too well the sting of death. And last month a dear friend of mine was taken from us by a senseless act of domestic violence. I cannot take life for granted. I will not take life for granted. I pray you do the same.

When Bud is fighting me on everything, you know what I tell him? I tell him I love him and I show him I love him. You know why? Because that’s what God does to us. When we are the most hideous, angriest, and defiant; He tell us He loves us.

Lets throw our heads back and laugh with joy that we have this life. And for heaven’s sake, put your kid in a tiny robe because it will change your life.

Apparently I craft when I’m anxious….. so expect some craft posts! I decided to make a magnetic chalkboard for Bud to play with while I cook supper each night. Yall- trying to cook supper with a toddler at your feet is like trying to wrangle calves while simultaneously having a potato sack race.

I found this tutorial but in short:

1. Buy ugly painting in a frame that I like from Goodwill.

2. Buy galvanized metal from plumbing section at Home Depot along with chalk board paint.

3. Pop the ugly painting out of the frame, cut the metal to fit in the frame and put it in!

4. Paint the glass on the frame with chalk board paint, I had to use 3 coats.

5. There ya have it!

He loves it and it allows me to cook us healthy suppers without kneeling down every two seconds to say “I hear you baby, but Mama needs to chop this zucchini and put it in your meatballs to trick you into eating veggies.”

You know you’re jealous of my socks.

At least he gets it honest.

Bud and I made a little craft for Dada awhile back and put it in his care package. It was super easy, really fun, really messy, and did I mention super fun?

Lay some tape down on a sheet of paper

get your finger painting on

shake it around to dry…. or something

make sure it’s nice and covered!

Then you can pull the tape off and you have a fun little sign! and of course I didn’t take a final photo because I’m about 3 strokes short of the loony bin soooo use your imagination.

We moved across the country. The house is finally getting unpacked. Bud caught a nasty virus and is just now feeling better. Sleep has been… less than stellar on both ends because of new sounds, new time zone, etc etc etc. Why does this bed seem SO much bigger than the one at my parents?! We’ve been getting to hang out with some friends that we’ve missed, kids are bigger and it’s so fun to watch them all play together now. And oh yeah, I realized our house is way small for a toddler so I’m turning our garage into a playroom. I’ll post more about it later but I’ve found some awesome stuff on Craigslist and I’m making an awesome long fort out of all the cardboard boxes. Plus, I put carpet down which I wish would have been videotaped because I’m sure I looked like a Griswald driving down the highway with a 12×16 carpet strapped to my roof, trying to load it down and unroll it – TRULY hilarious.

And, I’m letting Bud go pantless a lot… just because.

This is what happens when Gruncle is around…

no pants no problem

take the dang ball dog.

there have been A LOT of early mornings so its resulted in some quick naps in the car running errands

playing in our new playroom!

new furniture to climb on/destroy!

 so this little house guest greeted me in the wee hours of the morn SO i started drinking and watching FNL…. sue me

Well, the sun was out this morning in the PNW (no one panic, it’s already gone so normalcy has returned), Bud slept until 7am and woke up happy, and we got to Skype with Dada so life is good people!! Because the sun was out we hopped in the car and went to our favorite pumpkin patch and got ourselves some pumpkins!

Bud can’t say his “p” so he kept trying to say “UHN-INS! UHN-KIN!”. And then he told me to pull myself together because I collapsed from his cuteness.

I had to take the pics with my camera phone because my nice camera is still in route, but fun was still captured so that’s all that matters.

Bud was a tad obsessed with riding in the wheel barrow and that was the only way I was going to carry all the pumpkins and a needy toddler

THIS ONE!

Twerkin’ the model pose

Can we just talk about Bud in this picture? He was thoroughly mad at me for removing him from the wheel barrow… I’m feeling the love. I can’t wait until I tell him he can’t go to Chastity’s party at the lake when he’s 16 and grounded. 

My bud

Cheeeeeeese!

SO.MANY.PUMPKINS. Seriously, the tiny pumpkins are my weakness. I bought 22… sorry Sam, but you knew what you married. 

Well we are back in Washington and holy moly, that was a long day. I woke Bud up at 5am eastern time to make our flight. He did not so much as blink his eyes for entire trip, didn’t want to take a nap when we finally got to our house in WA, and had a hard night last night. He was awake for like 17 hours. And then he was up and ready to go this morning at 4am….

However, he is asleep at his normal bedtime tonight and I’m enjoying Friday Night Lights and a beer.  A much needed beer.

This is on the plane, have you ever seen a more tired boy? Explain to me why someone so tired would rather stare at the weird lady across the aisle than go to sleep? Esssplain it to meeee!

Can I say something? I can’t wait to have my partner back home so that we can parent together because it’s rough figuring it out alone! (Although, I know its rough figuring it out period!) I know we are all trying to figure this crazy parenthood thing out and doing the best we can. So- this conversation happened over email with Sam yesterday after a discipline situation with our son.

Sam- “Looks like he’s got quite the personality.”

Me: “oh my gosh its definitely coming out. we have a stubborn, strong-willed but wonderful child on our hands. if you could continue to pray for me as i discipline him. i’m desperately praying for guidance and discernment so that i discipline him in a Godly way that points him to the “why” he acts out and to the glory of God instead of just the “messing up”. i know he might not cognitively understand what i’m saying right now but i don’t want the first time he hears it to be when he’s 5 and understands. plus it helps me claim truth over him and not just see it as an action but also a heart issue. it’s 24/7 nowadays and i just need a little prayer for patience, grace, but most of all that i’ll do it in the way God wants me to. he is throwing major tantrums when he doesn’t get his way and is starting to scream for things instead of ask. and the other night, when i told him no, he hit me in the face. soooo, that was great. i just removed him from the situation and we sat in the chair and i told him that he couldn’t hurt mama because we love our family and we love everyone because God loves everyone so much. we have to have a kind and gentle heart because thats what God calls us to have. i popped his arm, and sat with him while he pitched his fit and told him that we needed to have an obedient and respectful heart and it should show through our actions. i made him sit in the chair until he was done pitching his fit. then we hugged it out and i told him that i forgave him. he definitely understood he did something wrong. is that all ok?”

Sam- “All that is great baby.  You’re an AWESOME mom and I want to be a parent like you.  I can’t wait to learn from you. And I’ll take care of the whole “hitting mom” thing when I get home – you teach him new testament, I’ll teach him old.”

Me- :/

What I love about parenthood is that everyone can do it completely differently, and I think that’s pretty awesome. Seriously, it would be really lame if every kid turned out the same.

That being said, there are days when I end up yelling in my head WHAT AM I DOING AND WHY IS IT NOT SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE TO DRINK BEFORE 5PM AND WHY IS THERE POOP EVERYWHERE AND WHY ISN’T CANDY CORN A PART OF THE FOOD PYRAMID?!?!

Anyone else have those days? No? Just me? Well, Bud has been pitching some major fits as of late and he can be set off from anything like telling him that he can’t play with the rectal thermometer or that he can’t throw himself down the flight of stairs.

This is after I told him that he couldn’t throw my nice camera off of the bed.

Let it be known, this kid is some kind of acting genius. He was crying over the camera then the dog ran in the room and he went from this face to laughing and yelling “DAWG!” within 5 seconds. Super….

I’m navigating my way through figuring out my discipline style and I think I’m kinda getting it. But, I miss having a partner. How do yall handle tantrums? Time out? Spanking? How do yall handle discipline with your partner/spouse/family? Tag team it? Good cop/Bad cop?