Welcome back to No Manual, a mom cast, where
we're here to just talk about the realities of
motherhood, the good, the bad, the funny, all
of those things, and just make you feel less
alone. Today, we are doing what we swore we'd
never do as moms, because before you're a mom,
you always have the idealistic like I'm gonna
do this and not do that and then motherhood hits
and sometimes those things change so do you want
to start with your mom moment of the week I would
love to okay so I mentioned in another episode
that we've been dealing just with sickness in
our in our house and I feel like I mean that's
just inevitable of like Sickness after sickness,
it just keeps going around and around. So our
two and a half month old Cruz has also been a
little bit sick and he just has like a little
cough and it's so sad. Like a little cough is
so sad. Yeah. And along with the cough, like
he already has reflux. So he spits up a good
amount and he just has been like projectile vomiting
when he like gets a coughing attack. And I feel
like I can kind of tell when it's going to happen.
And probably four out of like the last six times
it's happened this week, it has been while I'm
nursing him on my bed. You have to change the
sheets. Yes. Yeah. So just TMI, I haven't changed
the sheets as much as I probably should have
because it's just like, I don't know. It's just
going to happen again. It dries. And then you're
like, I'm too tired. I just put my pillow over
it. But yeah. And it's like, it's not just one
like projectile vomit. It's like one happens
and then it's followed by three more. And in
that, in that moment, I'm just like, I almost
like freeze. I don't know what to do. And like,
he's okay, but I'm just like covered in spit
up. I'm like boob out right now, just covered
in spit up. It's going, I can feel it running
down my leg and I just know it's getting all
over the bed. And poor buddy is just like, is
crying and I'm just sitting there frozen. And
thankfully, like most of the times Michael has
been home. And so I just yell for him. I'm just
like, Michael. And he like comes up and he, I,
I know he knows what's happened at this point.
So he like the last time he like came in with
a towel because he knew I would need the towel,
but it's like, yeah, thankfully he's like the
voice of reason in my life because I just think
I would freak out and just, I don't know what
I would do. I would just sit there in the spit
up for the rest of my life. I don't know, but
it's rough. It's been a fun time. Who gets cleaned
up first? Like, is it bad if I clean up myself
first, but also I feel like I have to. So, cause
then if I clean you up and then like hold, yeah.
Yeah. Yep. So that's been really fun. How about
you? What's your mom moment? Uh, so Stuart has
been off work for the last couple of weeks, which
has been super nice. But then the one morning
that he was gone, so he went to church and we
stayed home because we've been potty training
and I wasn't going to put Lloyd in kids ministry
during that. So Stuart went to church. He was
gone all morning. And that was just the morning
everything went wrong. We're like, you've been
home all week and this is the day. So I actually
have a video that's very funny now out of the
moment. But what had happened is Zada needed
a diaper change. So I changed her diaper. literally
turn around to throw away the diaper and wash
my hands Lloyd throws a toy at her face so she
got her first black eye um so she i you know
you know the difference between just like a baby
crying and like hurt crying so i hear her hear
that cry i'm like oh no what happened so i go
over there figure out what happened i take Lloyd's
car away the car that he threw at her away
and like this is the punishment you get for,
you know, the discipline, whatever consequences
of throwing your toy at your sister as it gets
taken away. So then she screamed crying because
she's still hurting. He's crying because I took
his toy away. And this is the only time that
there's been like a total meltdown from everyone
in the past, like week that Stuart was off was
this like couple hours that he was gone, which
everything was awful. Isn't that how it always
works? Yeah. Yep. Yep. Gosh, I feel that. It
was actually, Cruz got his first shiner this
week, too. Oh, good job. Yeah. What did he do?
He chucked a cane at, or Colt chucked a cane
at Cruz. Nice. Got him right in the face. So
both the second babies got their first black
eyes, I was just thankful that it went away.
Because she had her four -month checkup like
a few days later. And I was like, are we going
to have to go to the doctor? And I'm going to
have to explain why my four -month -old has a
black eye. You know she has a... older brother
so I think hopefully he'll understand but it
did go away I mean it wasn't that bad no yeah
it felt so bad and it was so pathetic and sad
I know I know one thing that Michael told me
he's like you know unfortunately Cruz is just
gonna have to get used to it he's got older brother
yeah he's gonna have to be tough and he's gotta
start learning at two and a half months old So
sad. But okay. Well, let's hop into some of the
things we swore we'd never do as moms. And maybe
this is like when I was reflecting on it. I don't
know if you felt this way. I was like, oh, these
were a lot of things that like my mom did whenever
I was growing up that I'm like, oh, mom, I'm
never going to do that. Yeah. But then I do.
Yeah. I did feel like there were a lot of things
that I was like, oh, I'm. I like stuck with the
thing that I said. And then there are a few things
like, oh, no, I definitely didn't think I was
going to do that. So do you want to go first?
Sure. OK, so my first one is I never thought
I would lick my finger to get like crap off my
child's face all the time. I absolutely hated
that when my mom because my mom did that all
the time. She would lick her finger and like.
Rub it on my face. And it was so gross. I felt
like I could smell her spit, which just is so
gross. But I totally do that to Colt, especially
because he gets, I mean, he gets food everywhere
all over his face. And if he's like, not at mealtime,
but if he's like playing and I'm like, oh, let
me just get this off his face. I just like lick
my finger. By the time that you get a wipe or
something like that, he's. Yeah. I'm like, I
could just get it right now. Yeah. So I swore
I would never do that. And I have found myself
many, many times doing that. And in my head,
I'm like, oh, I'm like, this is so gross. But
like, I just do it. Along with like picking my
child's nose. Yeah. I never thought about picking
my kid's nose. And now like you have to. I just
do. And I'm not like grossed out by it. I don't
know. I can't do the snot sucker. Stuart always
has to do that. Oh, I can do the snot sucker.
And if I can get something, I'm like, I feel
so great about it. And it's like satisfying to
me. This sound makes me want, like Stuart can't
even do it in the room. This sound makes me want
to throw up every single time. Yeah. So that's
Stuart's job. But I can do the picking. That's
fine. Oh, yes. I love the nose picker. That's
like, that's like a fun thing. I'm like, Ooh,
you got a booger. Let me, let me go get that.
Yeah. Yes. Okay. My first one is co -sleeping
before I had kids. I wrote that down too. Well,
they like tell you it's super dangerous, all
the things. And like, I understand there are
risks, but I was when, before Lloyd was born,
I was like, obviously we're never going to do
that. He's going to sleep in his bassinet. We're
going to do all things. But then with Lloyd specifically,
We would not have slept for the first six months
if we did not go sleep. Yep. And to be honest,
I wish I had done more research before he was
born just to go into it knowing, like, these
are the, you know, things to do that are safer.
You know, the things to avoid. Yeah. But, yeah,
we would not have slept. And I swore I would
never do it because they tell you not to do it.
Yeah. And Zeta has been better about sleeping
in her bassinet, but pretty much every day at,
like. 5 a .m. he wakes up and that's the only
way to get her back to sleep yeah and I would
like the extra two hours of sleep that we can
get while Lloyd is still sleeping yeah yeah I
mean while you're talking about it like that's
one that I wrote down too and I I feel like I
like specifically with Colt at the beginning
it same thing is like when that four month sleep
regression hit for for him like we would not
have slept Probably at all, honestly, unless
we had co -slept. And that was one thing like
Michael was like, I do not. He was like dead
certain on like not wanting to go to sleep. Stuart
was way more against it than I was, too. And
he like Michael's a really heavy sleeper. And
so he I mean, rightfully so. He was like, I am
afraid to roll over and roll on to roll on to
him and not not wake up or not notice. And it
got to the point where even he was like, no,
we need to, we will do anything to get sleep.
And when it came down to it, like doing research
on it, like I know there's going to be sides
to each, but most countries co -sleep. fully
yeah until their kids are like two at least yeah
yeah and it is just so biologically normal yeah
and i know like so now with cruz like same thing
is he starts in the bassinet usually after the
first feed which is like 2 a .m ish it's really
hard to get him back down and so it's super easy
to get him back to sleep if we co -sleep yeah
and so To help us get better sleep, we've done
that. And, I mean, we don't have him swaddled.
He's sleeping next to us. He's in his little
marshmallow suit, the Merlin sleep sack. It just,
it actually brings me comfort, too. And I don't
know if you feel that way about it. I think I
am less stressed. Like, as I think about it,
when she's right now. Zeta's in the bassinet.
I definitely like still wake up to like you're
breathing. Cool. Or I don't think I do that as
much when she's like right next to you. Like
there's probably some sort of biological thing
that like feels her breathing and senses it.
Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure. Something that like
whenever I was pregnant the first time I like
would see all the videos about like safe sleep,
like the seven rules to safe sleep. And I was
like, I'm never going to do that. Like co -sleeping
is. i was like co -sleeping is not safe at all
yep and i yeah again there are risks and there
are things that we're like i'm mentally aware
of yeah so it's like okay i don't take a melatonin
or z -quil for sure those are things that i would
normally take if i'm having a hard time sleeping
whereas you know i make sure not to do that um
again make sure like blankets are especially
heavy blankets are like tucked away you know
not any place that could cover her up. But yeah,
I wish I had done more research while I was pregnant
before Lloyd was born because then I think I
would have been less stressed about making that
change when it was necessary. Yeah, I wouldn't
have felt as stressed about just figuring out
what worked for us. Yeah, so I feel that. I feel
that. Okay, another one that I wrote down was
Screen Time. I have that one too. Do you? Oh
my gosh. Maybe we should have talked about these
before. I don't know. So obviously I try to limit
screen time, but I went into parenthood and I
was like, my child is not going to watch TV.
They're not going to look at an iPad or look
at. Well, the thing I heard is that like. just
with how development works under two screen time
doesn't do have anything beneficial. Like once
they're over two, they start to learn some things,
but under two they don't. So it's like, that's
it. No screens under two. Yeah. Yeah. That's
never going to happen. And so, you know, I, I
really tried, I tried my best and it came to
a point where it just, sometimes mommy needs
just 15 minutes to just eat some food or just.
sit there for a second and so especially on days
when like Michael's at work and now especially
with two kids I have to say the screen time has
probably picked up just a little bit but then
there's there's boundaries we've put on screen
time and so I think so like on the flip kind
of like the co -sleeping thing One of the reasons
I was so against screen time was because of all
the research I had done. Yeah. But that also
helped me when I caged to be like, okay, so what
decisions are we going to make? So we don't do
YouTube. We only do movies and some TV shows.
For us, we pretty much exclusively do Pixar movies,
VeggieTales, sometimes Bluey if we're like, we
just need 10 minutes. Yeah. That's one nice thing
about Bluey. Like one episode. Is that it's like,
okay. We're just trying to make it till dinner
time or whatever. So it helped me go, okay, these
are the TV shows or the movies that are absolutely
never going to play in our house. And I can confidently
say that now because here are the ones that we'll
slide with. And then he's not really allowed
to, like he doesn't have an iPad. The only thing
he, like he'll play with our phones, which usually
just means he's like taking pictures. And so
we have a thousand pictures of our floor in my
camera roll. And then he likes to look at. pictures
so sometimes he'll sit with us and and we'll
just scroll through some like pictures and you
know he'll say oh you know mama dad yeah you
know whoever so those are things it's like he's
not allowed to have like unlimited access to
phones or ipads or anything and then I also have
the rule right now for the most part that if
he requests it, we're not watching TV. Yeah.
No, I think that's really smart. Yeah, we for
sure have like our certain shows that we watch.
Like Michael's done a lot of research on like
the most overstimulating versus understimulating
shows. And so we try to stick to like, it's mostly
like the old school shows that we grew up with.
So like Little Bear. This is the worst animation
I've ever seen in my life. And that's exactly
what I want for my kids. Yes. Yeah. I want the
dull colors. Actually, Bluey is one of the most
understimulating shows because of the dull colors.
Yeah. And there's not a lot of like quick cuts.
Yeah. So we do, yeah, Little Bear, Curious George,
which I'm surprised Curious George is actually
one of the most understimulating shows because
it's so bright. But it's like it's because it's
slow moving. And then there's this other show
on Netflix called Trash Truck that. I think you've
told us about that. Yeah. It's like 12 minute
episode shows, but Cole is obsessed with the
trash truck. So why not watch the show about
it? So, but yeah, screen time was definitely
something that I went into parenthood. Like,
oh my gosh. Yeah. My child's not, my child will
not even want to watch TV because they'll. be
so outdoorsy and want to explore. We're going
to have all these activities that are pre -planned.
Yeah. All these sensory activities ready for
you at all times. And that's just not reality.
And that's okay. And I have to give myself grace
with it because it's like some days are just
harder than others. And so some days are going
to consist of a little bit more screen time and
especially being. a mom of two now and I'm starting
work again next week. Like it's just reality
kind of hits. And I think grace has to kind of
kick in a little bit more. When you have a balance
too, it makes it easier. Right. Cause it's like,
we can go days where it's like, we spent so much
time outside and went to the park and, you know,
we did have all the fun activities. And then
I think of, there was one day, I think it was
in, it was last fall. I was pregnant with Zeta
and I had food poisoning. Oh, yeah. So I was
like, that's all we did. We watched movies from
the second we got up till Stuart got home. Yep.
because that's because I couldn't move yeah and
sometimes that happens so yeah having grace with
myself has been good for that yeah I have to
think too like some of my favorite days growing
up were like when we would just have movie nights
as a family and like those were some of the best
memories that we had and I have to think too
like I am not like I feel like I'm pretty with
it. I'm a smart person. I'm not totally addicted
to technology. It's not like I didn't have screen
time growing up. Stuart and I have been trying
to figure out because we're looking at the difference
of us as kids and our experience with screens
and even just us as adults and our experience
with screens. When I was a kid... My parents
like watching Seinfeld and they would watch it.
It was on TBS every day from like four to five
or five to six, something like that. So when
my dad would get home from work, they'd put it
on while my mom was making dinner. And then after
that hour was over, something that they didn't
want to watch was on. So they just turn it off.
Whereas now if we wanted to have the same experience
and we put on like even same thing, Seinfeld,
it's on Netflix. you have to consciously make
the decision of like, we're going to watch two
episodes and turn it off. Cause otherwise it's
just going to keep playing. Right. And it's so
easy to just like, let it keep playing. And so,
or, you know, Saturday morning cartoons when
we were a kid, right. It's like, you had to be
up at a certain time if you want to watch your
cartoon and you had to fight with your siblings
to decide like what, you know, channel you're
going to be on. So we're trying to figure out
like, how can we replicate that for our kids
so that we can have the fun parts of like, yes,
Saturday morning cartoons are fine. but you don't
necessarily get the like instant gratification
that is makes like unlimited and all of that.
That's so true. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's just
figuring out what works for your family and giving
yourself grace along the way. Yeah. Um, and then
there's going to be seasons of like, a little
bit more and, or a lot less. Yeah. You know,
then it's summer and yeah. Now that it's nice
out, we're getting outside all the time. We're
going to the park after dinner, going walks,
all that. Yeah. Okay. My second one is I swore
I would never have two kids in diapers at the
same time. Oh yeah. Even when I got pregnant
with Zeta, I was like, we're going to find a
way to potty train Lloyd before Zeta is born.
And that definitely did not happen. And now four
months into having, two in diapers yeah we're
trying to potty train lloyd right now so we'll
see hopefully that we'll be down to one again
but i was like absolutely not we're not having
two kids in diapers at the same time i felt that
way too and here we are yeah i found myself like
okay when i change cruz's diaper i'm like well
i might as well change colt's diaper too so let's
just line them up and yep just get the diapers
all over with yeah so yeah i feel that i and
just how many diapers like There was one time
we went to Costco and I think we had to buy wipes
and stock up on diapers for both of them. That's
like 150 bucks right there. Honestly. Yeah. Like
that's already super expensive. Like we actually
can't buy food now because I just spent my entire
food budget on diapers. Yeah. I feel that a hundred
percent. Like I can't wait for you to give me
all the tips and advice about you guys potty
training because I feel like it is right around
the corner for us and it has to be because. man,
I, yeah, it's not fun. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I'm
not going to send my child to kindergarten and
in diapers, hopefully. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
My next one is sleep training. I never, I never
thought I would sleep train and still in my head,
I'm like, I don't know if I'll sleep train my
second, but I probably will, but sleep training.
So for us, we didn't sleep train Cole until he
was just over a year old. And we, I mean, we
talked about like co -sleeping and all that.
And I mean, sleep was just so terrible for us
for the first year of his life. It's still not
great. I think we just have a poor sleeper, unfortunately,
but sleep training saved our lives. We did like,
it's not the full cry it out method. We did like
the taking care of babies method, 5, 10, 15 method.
And, and I did, we did a lot of research on it
leading up to it because I was like, I didn't
want to like ruin my child's life. I felt like
I was like, I was going to create a bunch of
trauma for them and I didn't want to hurt them.
And we went into it just so desperate for sleep.
had just found out I was pregnant with Cruz and
Cole at this point was waking up literally every
single hour of the night. And he was in his own
room at this point, but we, then we would, we
would co -sleep halfway through. And it just
was like, we were so miserable. And Michael's
like, you know, the benefits for sure outweigh
the, the negatives here. And he needs like, Cult
needs to be part of it. By the time we actually
wake up for the day, we're having a terrible
day because everyone's in a bad mood because
nobody got sleep. And I'm like, developmentally,
our child needs to sleep at this age. And so
I was like, we, yeah, at that point I was like,
okay, like we have to do it. And I mean, it was
not easy. It was not fun. It's not fun to just
let your child cry for a little bit of time,
but it worked. And there's things that like,
that for sure make it not work if he's sick or
whatever. If we travel, obviously those things
kind of hinder it. And you have to restart and
retrain. But overall, that was something I was
like, I'm never going to let my child cry. If
they're crying, I'm going to tend to their needs.
And yes, there comes a time when, yes, you have
to do that. But this is going to sound really
bad, but kids can also manipulate. us in a sense
of like, he, he knew that if he cried, I would,
I would come to, yeah, I would show up and I
want him to know that too. But there was also
a training aspect of it that he needs to learn
how to sleep too. So, yeah. So I never, I never
thought I'd sleep train and until I was like
in it. I like still probably would have never
said I would have until it was like first night.
And I was like, OK, we're doing this thing. Yeah.
Yeah. And you I really had to commit to it, too,
because it wasn't just a one night thing. It's
like multiple nights of committing to like at
least a week. Yeah. Yeah. And it was worth it
for sure, at least for us. And and like everyone's
going to find out what works for them. For sure.
And again, you have like, for us, Lloyd was not
a good sleeper. I mean, he wasn't like the worst
sleeper in the world, but he was waking up until
he was a year old. Yeah. And the night Zeta would
let, she would sleep through the night if I let
her. Yeah. So I'm like different kids need different
things. And then, but then also we have more
issues with her eating. Yeah. So, you know, it's
like just figuring out what works for your family.
And the one thing I had to like, come to a conclusion
in my head was that i wasn't like i wasn't creating
this trauma for colt like i was actually helping
him developmentally by helping him train and
learn how to sleep because that's not something
kids know how to do which is crazy you have to
teach them how to how to sleep and fall asleep
on their own or whatever that looks like but
um that was something i had to like come to a
conclusion in my head is like yeah i am not hurting
my child by doing this to help him yeah and like
They say you're not supposed to have like anything
loose in their crib before, I think like a year.
Before a year, yep. But Lloyd has his levy and
that helped him so much. I think I started giving
it to him at naps because I was like, okay, then
I can keep an eye on you. And then once I was
like, oh, you're definitely not smothering yourself
with this. Then that helped him sleep at night
so much more. And yeah, he's still like. We've
created a little bit of a monster because he
will not sleep without it now. And how many do
you have on backup just in case? We only have
one on backup. That's actually my parents went
and bought another one. And so it's at their
house. But we do have one on backup. Oh, good.
We also don't take it places, which helps. Yeah,
that's smart. So. Yeah. Yes. It stays in the
crib. It pretty much stays in the crib. Sometimes
we'll let him take it around the house if he's
not feeling well or something, but. You're like,
you better not lose that, Lloyd. Ebba Buss stays
in the crib for the most part. Right. Okay. What's
your next one? My next one was, I swore that
our house would not be just covered in toys all
the time and that we were going to be the people
who didn't look like our kids lived in our house.
Yeah. And that is not true. I mean. I do like
clean up every night and tidy and everything
like that. But we, we have a almost two year
old and we have toys everywhere. And I feel that's
just the season we're in and that's okay. But
yeah, I was always like, we're going to have,
you know, toys are going to stay in his room
or we're going to have a spot for them so that
things get put away. And I mean, you have not
been upstairs yet today, but if you went up,
there are. cars to step on and right now he likes
playing with red solo cups so it looks like we
have a rager every night because they're just
everywhere i love it and uh anything that he
can grab is on the floor books are everywhere
yep and you know i'll clean it up tonight and
yeah it'll be fine oh my gosh no i feel that
a hundred percent i wanted like the picture perfect
like I don't know, Magnolia House. Yes. Yeah.
Everything has a place and everything's organized
in these wicker baskets. And they're pretty.
Yes. Yeah. But, you know, we have a great ball
pit that we just throw all the toys in. It's
great. Yeah. Yeah. So I know I feel that 100
percent that, you know, that's just the stage
of life we're in. Well, I think we'll look back
like. I don't know when we're empty nesters and
be like, we miss the, we miss the toys all over.
So I'm trying whenever I have those moments of
like, Oh man, I just want my house to be clean.
I have to be like, I'm going to miss this. I'm
going to miss this. Yes. Yeah. Okay. My last
one is I swore I'd never call the advert advice
nurse weekly. And I, I'm pretty sure I should
ask for a punch card. because I'm surprised they
don't have them already honestly I was like can
I get like my 10th visit for free please because
I call the advice nurse weekly about pretty much
anything and everything with my children and
yes we've been sick a lot so it's like I feel
like a lot of it is reasonable but pretty much
any I mean Colt has eczema pretty bad so like
any skin thing any yeah like projectile vomiting
from my newborn like things you know things like
that like I don't know if I just have bad luck
or like or if we just like have weakened immune
systems over here in my house but they for sure
know me by name and I'm like is every mom like
this or am I just Am I just kind of extra in
that sense? I don't know. But I need a punch
card because the co -pays are racking up. Yeah,
that's expensive. Yeah. So thankfully, like not
every call then turns into like a visit into
the doctor. Usually the advice nurse can give
me advice as they do. Calm down. Yes. But I think
my husband is he's really patient with me overall.
But his advice to me is like, well, if you have
a question, why don't you just call the advice
nurse? And so then I do. And so I think. And
then all of a sudden you're at a doctor's visit.
Yeah. And then the $25 copay, blah, blah, blah.
And here we go again. But yeah, I just, I swore
I'd never take my kids to the doctor slash call
the advice nurse as much as I do. Because I thought
I would just be like, well, they just need rest
or water or this or that. Yeah. Again, so we're
still first -time moms because our oldest are
still our first kid and we've never had two kids
before. And I think one of the things that's
hard is there's just so much you don't know that
it doesn't matter how much someone tells you
beforehand that you just don't know. And kids
getting sick is one of them. I know one of the
things I've struggled with is kids get sick.
And I know that's going to happen. I know he's
going to get fevers and I know he's going to
have colds. I just want to know when to panic.
Yes. And that's it. Otherwise, I can stay home
and be fine. And I don't want to get him uncomfy
and take him out of the house for a doctor's
appointment if it doesn't mean anything. But
just like give me the list of when to panic.
Yep. And then we're fine. But you don't know
that before you have the list. I feel like I'm
always in panic mode. So I just need someone
to bring me down from that. So, yeah. That was
my last one. Do you have one more? Yes. So my
last one was I swore we'd never be ruled by a
nap time schedule. I was like, you know, we're
going to be the parents who our kids will sleep
wherever we're going. We're just going to have
fun. Nap time will happen when it happens. And
when Lloyd was really little, that was more the
case and he could sleep anywhere. And then there
just got a point where he. would get distracted
and then he would have a bad nap and then we'd
all have a bad day because he had a bad nap.
Yeah. And so he started to have a much more set
schedule and I would like to get a little more
flexible on it. But it's so hard. Yeah. Yeah.
Cause I'm like, I don't want him to be grumpy
and if he's grumpy, then the rest of us have
a rough day. So yeah, we're trying to find the
balance of like, okay, there are going to be
days like we want to go swimming. So yeah. So
maybe a nap's going to be pushed or maybe there's
not going to be a nap at all. Or a car nap or
something like that. Yeah. Trying to find that
balance. But yeah, before he was born, I was
like, we're going to be the family that just
like, we're fun. And we, of course we can go
to whatever at any time because now we're like,
oh no, nap time is at noon. So we got to get
home or, you know, bedtime is 730. So it's time
to start wrapping up. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like,
I don't know if you feel this way, but whenever
Colt switched to one nap, it almost made the
day. like more difficult because it's like right
in the middle of the day too, where it's like,
okay, we were either going to do something right
when we wake up in the morning or it's going
to be after nap. And then it's like, you're running
into. to dinner time. Yep. When I, when he was
on a two nap schedule, I feel like there, I was
able to be more flexible cause I was like, ah,
if he can get like his morning nap in the car,
that's fine. And then we'll have a shorter nap
in the morning and longer in the afternoon. Yeah.
And so I felt like I was a more flexible parent
then, but now it's like, yeah, same thing. If,
if he doesn't get down for his nap at the right
time, then we're like messing with like, The
rest of the day after nap, like we're going to.
And the afternoon is way rougher too. Yeah. Like
if he sleeps bad at night and the morning time
is not fun, but it's doable. But if he has a
bad nap time, then the afternoon is. Is rough.
We're all just trying to survive. Yeah. And for
us too, it's like, okay, nap is at 12 or 1230.
We have to be leaving. Like if we do anything
in the morning, it's like. No, we have to be
leaving to get home like by 1030 because otherwise
he's at that point where he's too tired and he's
going to fall asleep in the car. And then the
car nap is the worst. The car nap's the worst.
There's like maybe a 50 -50 chance we could transfer
him. Otherwise it's like, you got 15 minutes
in the car. You're not going to go back down
for another nap. I'm tired too. I was hoping
to get a nap while you were taking a nap. Yeah.
It's just, I feel it. I feel it 100 % on like.
i swore i'd never be ruled by that but but here
we are here we are and even now we're like i'm
thinking about his birthday party because his
birthday's coming up in a little bit so like
oh what do we want to do for a birthday party
and mid -afternoon is a perfect time because
you don't have to like serve a meal yeah but
then that's right during nap time so i'm like
do we skip a nap that day and just do we have
his birthday party without him there we go do
we have it at uh 11 a .m. I don't know. Honestly,
I've thought about that too. I'm like, do we
do a morning party? Probably. 9 a .m.? I also
don't want to get up that early to get everything
planned and prepped. We just have a rager at
like 9 .30 at night. I don't know. If you guys
have any advice on how to not be ruled by naps,
please do share. I feel like I like structure
in my life. being ruled by the nap isn't necessarily
terrible but in in certain times it's like yeah
it would be nice to be able to like go out to
lunch right now where yeah go and grab coffee
but and not run into him falling asleep in the
car yep Yeah. My dad will bring us lunch every
once in a while. And I'm like, well, you have
to bring it by like 11. Yeah. Because he's going
to go down for a nap. So. Yeah. Like we're eating
lunch at 1130. So this is brunch for most people.
Yes. Yeah. But second meal over here. Yep. Yeah.
Oh, my gosh. I feel it. Well, we'd love to hear
what you guys would, you know, swore you'd never
do in motherhood, but find yourself doing. Because
I think all of us find ourselves doing that.
Yes, for sure. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to share
your win of the week? Yeah. So Zeta's four month
checkup was this week and Lloyd came with us
and it was just like a terrible timing where
she was getting hungry. It was also nap time
for her. Nap time had been messed up. Speaking
of nap time, nap time had been messed up for
her all day. And so when the doctor went to do
like the exam and check everything, she was just
not having it and was so mad that he was checking
her heart and breathing and poking and prodding
her. And Lloyd was so concerned. Like, he walked
up to the little, like, exam table and was looking
at the doctor like, what are you doing to my
sister? Like, do not hurt my sister. Who do you
think you are? And it was just really sweet that,
like, on the flip side of him throwing a car
at her from my mom moment, he was, like, clearly
concerned that she was upset and also that he
thought someone was doing something to her that
they weren't supposed to be doing. And he would,
like, look at me and Stuart. Stuart was there,
too. And, like. Like you're not doing anything,
so I think it's okay. But she's crying and she's
clearly upset. But it was really sweet. Just
a sweet big brother moment. Yeah, that is really
sweet. Okay, my win of the week. So at mealtime,
we've been trying to pray before we eat. And
Michael's grandparents are in town right now.
They know sign language really well. So they
taught Colt how to say amen in sign. So we've
been praying at the beginning of every meal.
And so Colt folds his hands. And then he waits
for all of us to fold our hands. And if you don't
have your hands folded, he points it out. So
he'll be like, mama, mama. And so then I have
to fold my hands. Dada, fold. Fold your hands.
And so then we'll pray. We always say, dear Jesus.
And he goes, Jesus. He says the last word of
each phrase, Jesus. And we say, thank you for
our food. And he goes, food. And thank you for
our family. Family. And then amen. And he goes,
amen. And he wants to not only pray at the beginning
of our meals, but many times also during the
meal. And so we pray, I think the other day during
a meal, we prayed like six times and it was great.
So our food was extra blessed and yes, we got
all the nutrition we needed because it was extra
blessed. So the six prayers, that's what does
it. Yeah. So that has just been really cute and
sweet. And I love how he, I mean, he's just picking
up on things so quickly now and it's just fun
to. Fun to watch it. I feel like Lloyd just like
hit, it was like one day came and then all of
a sudden, like he's learning a new word every
single day. He's picking up on things. That's
how I totally feel too. And it's like, I keep
saying like, oh no, this is my favorite age.
I really do think Colt right now is at my favorite
age. been yeah and i just think that i'll keep
saying that probably so forever yeah but um thanks
for tuning in today to um our episode of no manual
mom cast let us know message us what you guys
would swear you would never do in motherhood
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