parenting – Page 13 – Sunshine and Holly

January Favorites Link-Up

By sunshineandholly on January 26, 2018

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Happy Friday!

I’m starting a new link-up this month with a bunch of awesome bloggers. We’re each sharing some of our favorite things – so fun! This month has been a little different for me since I’m participating in the January Whole 30, but I still have lots of favorites to share. And after you read my post, make sure to check out my fellow co-hosts listed below!

Jordan @ www.southernsweetandsassy.com

Nicole @ www.alamaxfield.blogspot.ca

Miranda @ www.mirandasouthern.com

Katie @ www.katiegini.com

January Favorites | sunshineandholly.com

January Favorites

Favorite Place I Went This Month

Well, I’ve kind of been a hermit since I’m doing Whole 30 and I’ve been terrified of getting the flu. So we haven’t been to too many cool places. We did take the kids to the Decatur Toy Park this past weekend. And after being stuck inside because of all the snow the week before, it was so nice to get out! We had lunch at Taco Mac, grabbed some tea and coffee from Dancing Goats, and enjoyed spending time outdoors in the sun. It was such a nice family outing.

January Favorites | sunshineandholly.com

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The Day I Buried My Last F***

By sunshineandholly on January 22, 2018

One of my friends recently posted this hilarious meme on Facebook and tagged me and a few other friends in it. (It’s the cover of an old Nancy Drew novel with three girls burying something outside at night. The title on the book is “The Mysterious Night We Buried Our Last F***.”) I cracked up when I saw it! You see, the group of moms that she tagged in the meme are notorious for getting together to ~~complain~~ commiserate about motherhood. If I’m going to be completely honest here, we really get together to let our kids wear each other out, sip on some ~~wine~~ coffee, and have a major b****fest.

Now, I know, a lot of moms would completely shame us for this. They’d say we need to be grateful, we’re so blessed, we’re privileged. Our children are precious gifts from God. (They are – really! I do believe this.) We have nothing really to whine about.

But I’ve been a stay-at-home-mom for 5 plus years now. And sometimes, I need to complain. A lot. If you’re the type of mom that does feel blessed all the time – that’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you. But I wouldn’t suggest hanging out with my group of girlfriends any time soon. We’re still in the trenches of motherhood. The sleepless nights, shoveling our lunch into our mouths while we pass out goldfish and load the dishwasher, inadvertently training our bodies to poop at 9pm because it’s the only time we get a free minute to ourselves. This is our life. Our exhausting, mentally-taxing, beautiful, love-filled life.

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Easy Kid’s Valentine’s Day Thumbprint Craft

By sunshineandholly on January 10, 2018

You know me – this #lazymom is always looking for quick and simple crafts to do with the kiddos. And this easy kid’s Valentine’s Day thumbprint craft was perfect to kill some time one cold and rainy afternoon. The kids loved it, it was easy to make (and clean up), and the finished product is cute enough to use as decor around the house! The most difficult part of the whole craft was getting Maddie to pose for a picture with the finished product. Girlfriend hates having her picture taken these days…

Easy Kid’s Valentine’s Day Thumbprint Craft

All you’ll need is a white canvas or some cardstock, scissors, tape (double-sided would probably work better), paint, and some extra paper to use for the hearts.

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family | love | parenting

When Maddie Cut her Foot and Why We Should Always Offer to Help

By sunshineandholly on January 4, 2018

I’ve had this post in my drafts for months. I’ve never hit publish on it because it’s super negative. And while Maddie and her foot are fine, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. I still get riled up when I think about that day. It still hurts my heart that I had to go through all of this without one single person offering to help…

But I’m going to publish it now and hope that by sharing this story, it’ll make us all think twice when we see another mom in public, struggling. We need to help each other. Because moms get it – we can tell when another mom has had it. When she’s in over her head. When she needs help. What stops us from offering a hand? What stops us from offering to help? The worst that can happen is that she’ll say no…

We were at the pool one day this summer, trying to beat the heat and pass some time since those long summer days seem to go on forever. It wasn’t too crowded that day, just about 4-5 other moms or grandmothers that I didn’t know with their kids or grandchildren.

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family | motherhood | Motherhood Humor | parenting

Our Trip to the Emergency Room

By sunshineandholly on January 2, 2018

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One morning a few weeks ago I was busy packing lunches in the kitchen and the kids we’re playing together in our playroom. Just as I finish zipping up the lunch boxes, Graham comes running in the kitchen and tells me that Maddie has a ring stuck on her finger.

When she walks in, I see that it’s not a ring, but a grommet (like a washer for a bolt) that’s stuck tight on her pinkie finger.

I roll my eyes, and tell her not to put things like that on her finger. I sit down, and try to pull it off. No-go. She screams like a feral cat when I pull. So I grab some Vaseline and try again. Nope. More screaming – like I’m cutting off her finger. And the grommet doesn’t budge. It’s stuck.

I try to keep my cool, but I can feel the anxiety building in my chest. It was the last day of a long week. I had a manicure planned for the morning, and a lunch with friends scheduled for 11am. But I knew none of that was going to happen that morning.

I called Josh, and asked him what I should do. He said to try to wrap some floss around the finger, as close to the grommet as possible so I could make the finger smaller and be able to pull the grommet off. It worked once on YouTube! I tried that, but it was a huge, peppermint scented mess. It didn’t work at all, and Maddie was screaming and crying even more.

I called the pediatrician, and the conversation went like this:

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