erin hill: January 2014

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

16 months old

I can't believe this sweet boy is 16 months old already. Just this week he has grown so much to me. This past weekend he discovered the tiny rocks at the park. He was instantly in love and didn't want to leave. He just plopped down and played. Then we went to another place and he found the same kind of rocks, sat down, and played.

He's also eating better suddenly. Don't get me wrong, he's still pretty picky and throws it across the room if he doesn't want it, but when I hit the mark with the food he wants, he chows down.

I'm absolutely loving this stage with a little boy. He's constantly on the move, discovering new things to do. He entertains himself rather well now, whether he's playing with his cars, legos, getting into sisters things, or taking everything out of his dresser. He's also really good about helping me pick things up after he's thrown them everywhere.

This boy amazes me and continues to bless me daily. I can't seem to get enough of him and I wish I could find the person who has the remote to pause time so I could enjoy these moments even more.

Day 21

One Hot Mess

I'm actually talking about myself this time. One hot mess, I am. Sometimes I do feel like I have it all together and, if you follow me on social media sites, I may seem like I have it all together more times than not. Why is it so easy to portray myself in such a false sense to so many people? With just a click of a button, I am skinny. I have clear skin. I feed my family clean meals all day every day. We are wealthy. We are the perfect family of 5.

So not so.

A few friends recently inspired me to just be honest. Brutally honest. { #keepingitrealwednesday is the hashtag for you cool techie people.} To let people get to now the REAL me. Through the flaws, the blemishes, the oily hair, the 2 day old pajamas, the paycheck to paycheck weeks we have. Just be true. Do you know how hard that can be? I hesitated at first. Why would I want them to see my flaws? But I dove in. Not only did I post a picture of my blemish-filled face and my un-pedicured (yes, that is now a word) toes, but I also let it all out there that I am not always nice to my husband, that I've gained 15 lbs after my very public success with weight loss, and that I never clean my house.

This process of being honest has actually helped me tremendously. Now I analyze every stupid little thing I do and wonder what your reactions would be if I were to post what I was doing at the time. Like "I just ate a whole package of oreos." or "there was mold on the bottom side of our toilet seat" {the last one really happened. trust me, i was embarrassed and i thoroughly cleaned the whole bathroom after that}. or "I let my children drink sodas just as much as I drink them." Talk about punching myself in the face?

Sometimes being real is hard. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes the truth you get back in response to your honesty is tough. But, so far, it's been worth it. I like being completely honest. I like being real to everyone who follows me. Now, to work on being real to myself. {that's another post for another day}. To keep it really real, I'm going to post 5 more things that are real ...

1. My evening routine consists of putting my children to bed, usually before 7:30 and making a bee-line for my recliner. And I sit. Until I can barely keep my eyes open. Then I drag myself to bed. Without a shower. Sometimes without brushing my teeth (how gross!!!).

2. My weakness is snacks. Crackers. Cookies. You name it. So, to prevent myself from going overboard with snacking, I don't buy them. Or I buy what I don't like. Seriously. I can open a box of Nilla Wafers and eat the entire box in one sitting.

3. I'm the mom who wipes a kids runny nose on their shirt, unless there is a kleenex within reach, obviously.

4. I hate to cook. Hate it. We eat out a whole lot more than I ever thought we would. BUT, I will high five myself for only eating out 1 meal last week. The weekends are always worse.

5. I seldom clean my kitchen before I go to bed. It's a bad routine and I am trying to change it. There's not much that I don't lose sleep over, actually.