Life's A Beach....: Small Reminders

Life happens. It happens fast and without much warning and it can shake up even the toughest people. But life, generally is sweet and I'm grateful for it. A lot has gone on since I last posted and once again, i'll make an effort to stay up to date from here on out.

Currently, I am sitting in our bedroom listening to Drew cry/fuss/whine, nearly in his sleep, because the ever-loving paci disappeared. We've been talking about this day forever (well, just for 18 months) and every time we bring it up, we selfishly dismiss the thought of it because we don't want our sleep interrupted, or Drew's sleep messed up. "We'll throw them off the Disney cruise as we get off" (Then we'll have to ride 9 hours home with a very pissed off kid). "We will get rid of it as soon as we get home" (Then we have a massive 2-year old meltdown the day before he returns to school after Spring Break). Blah Blah Blah. Drew and I went to the doctor this morning because he has been fighting a low-grade fever for two days (after battling chest congestion last week). The new doctor was nice. An interesting, middle aged man who was very gentle with Drew, but tough with me. He gave me small nudges to do what is right as a parent and not what makes an unreasonable 2 year old happy. He suggested immediately dropping the paci because it was affecting his palette and when Drew is 8-10 years old and we are paying $10K for dental work because I wanted uninterrupted sleep, I would be wishing I'd dropped the paci earlier. Tough love mom. I asked him (with a smile on my face, knowing full well his answer) if he had any awesome ideas for getting rid of the paci.....he said, "Yeah! Be the parent and get rid of it. Cold turkey!" That resonated with me. "Be the parent." He went on to say that we are in this business called parent-hood to raise adults, NOT children. Unless, of course, i wanted to be doing my 30 year olds' laundry while he was sitting in the basement playing video games. The only thing I could think of here was Wedding Crasher's when Will Ferrel kept saying, "Maaaa, The MEATLOAF"! Ha. I told him I didn't have a basement. Kidding. I agreed. I just needed that small reminder (aka- kick in the hiney) to do my part as Drew's mom. To get rid of the paci once and for all. Thankfully, David was on board. I handled nap (and its going well, I must say) and because of my work schedule, David has to handle bed time. We shall see how this goes, but thanks to Dr. Tough-Guy, I'm not concerned with myself in this matter, but with the long term benefits of making the right decision. Sleep can wait.

Prior to this glorious day, we've done a lot over the last two months. Disney Cruise with family, gymnastics meets, Mother's Day, birthday dinners, baby showers, beach weekend with two wonderful families and learning the most important lesson of all -- Things happen for a reason and although we may not understand them, God has a plan and we need to trust it. So there. Here are a few pics to get me through this post so I can wait two more months before I post again. Once again, I'll try to do better.