We were so blessed to have my Mom, Dad, and Brecken come down to Austin over Easter weekend! We had a lot of fun, and got a lot of sun. Our first night we went to Torchies Tacos and walked down S Congress to Amy's Ice Cream where we listened to a street performer who had a lot of talent! The next day we went to Mckinney Falls State Park and played in the water. Brecken was the only one brave enough to jump in. We also went swimming in Barton Creek a few times and threw the frisbee at Zilker Park. We ate at Snooze, Terry Blacks BBQ, and a food truck court. Saturday morning we had a little Easter egg hunt for Rhys in our backyard. He had fun being the claw in Lewis' claw game as he was lowered by his ankles to grab eggs an put them in his bucket :) In Rhys' Easter basket he got a kite, an Easter touch'n'feel book, a My First Book of Mormon, a puddle jumper, swimsuit, outfit, fruit pouches, and three bow ties that I made for church :)
We were sad to see our family go on Sunday afternoon. It's always hard when people leave and you realize how quiet the house is without them here. On Monday Rhys kept insisting on going out in the backyard. He giggled when I opened the back door and ran strait over to the door to the loft and started banging on it, waiting for Grandpa or Grandma to come and get him. It was heartbreaking!
In other news, Rhys has finally started expanding his repertoire of foods he will actually eat. We finally have been able to get him off of formula and he only has one bottle of milk at night. (I am actually terrified of having to get rid of that bottle) He loves Japanese curry and chopped up spaghetti. He also loves chopped up tomatoes, gnawing on apples and, as ever, blueberries.
He has started to find himself hilarious lately. Last night He kept throwing his turtle bath toy at me and giggling hysterically. Also yesterday I went to REI to replace my backpack and he wiggled persistently until I put him down, then SPRINTED away from me while laughing. He thought playing tag/hide and go seek in the store was soooo funny!
I have been thinking a lot about the mommy wars. While my mom was out here we had a good discussion about the pressures that moms these days feel and the expectations that we are supposed to live up to. I have felt it particularly hard here in Austin, where I feel the culture somewhat demands pursuit of "excellence," at least in certain things. You are not a good mom if you obsess over a clean house (spend all of your time providing cognitive boosting, engaging activities for your kids!), you are not a good mom if your house is messy (kids can't thrive in an unorganized house, do the dishes!), provide your kids with a wide selection of healthy, organic, and whole food options (if you feed your kid hotdogs you are the devil). Start getting your kid on waitlists for all of the a-list preschools or they will be behind in kindergarten. And on and on. I see all of the other moms in my sphere taking their kids on fun outings every day, making organic dairy and gluten free ice cream and they always have a house because they practice minimalism (the don't own anything) they are perfectly fit because they somehow have the time to work out every day and they have meaningful, planned FHE every week. All of this has caused me to feel a lot of guilt, and to constantly stress over being a sub-par mom.
After our conversations I have been trying to be mindful of my guilt and decide if it is rational or not, (most of the time it's not) and focus my energy on the things that are most important in my life. 1. Having a Christ centered home 2. Raising a happy boy with character/ being a good partner 3. Taking time for myself to be healthy, rested, and centered. I know that as we focus our lives on the Savior our home will be full of light and joy. Mathew 6:22
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| Easter basket |
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| Not all that interested |
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| Playing the "claw" game with Daddy |
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| Now he's got the hang of it :) |
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| Mayfield park and reserve (peacock reserve) |
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| The peacock charged Brecken |
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| A big cottonmouth in one of the ponds |
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| Grandpa's little buddy |
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| He sure loves Grandma! |
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| In front of Amy's Ice Cream |
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| Playing at Mckinney falls |
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| Rhys LOVES his blanket that Great Grandma and Grandpa Skinner gave him. Whenever I put him down to sleep he reaches down to grab it and pulls it up to rub it on his face. |
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| Playing/eating the chalk |
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| At Zilker park |
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| A playground at the food truck court |
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| Chillin with Brecken on our front porch |
