Apparently I’m doing it wrong…

Story time: last Thursday (10/31) Hunter had preschool and at school they were having a Halloween parade – he was totally stoked about it and about being a hot dog again, I was equally excited. I never did anything for Halloween growing up, so I was exited for him to have his first school party and it being Halloween made it a little extra special for me. Because of his parade I took the morning off so I could go and see him. I’ve never done drop off for school because I work. Yup, I’m a full time working mom who is sometimes at the office before the house is even awake. I don’t get to do things like drop off, room volunteer or other things like that with his class. I’m OK with this and I try not to dwell on it to much or else I’m sure it would make me sad that I can’t do it all and be everywhere.

Back to the story: Wyatt and I were sitting in the lobby waiting for the kids to line up and walk past. Another mom from Hunter’s class comes over and we start chatting – here’s where I find out that I’m doing this whole mom/working mom thing wrong…

• Mom: Who is your child?
• Me: Hunter, he’s a hot dog today (I’m very proud of this btw). Which one is your child? Do you know if they play together? Hunter can’t remember names, but he can tell you the color of his friends shirts.
• Mom: Oh, you’re his mom… I’ve never seen you here before. I think I know his dad and have seen the person who picks him up every day, grandma? My child is XXXXXX and he talks about Hunter at home, even wanted to know if he was going to dress up too. (This makes me feel good – hooray for friends)
• Me: Yes, this is my first time dropping him off this year. Usually I’m already at work and my husband, Ryan, does drop off. The woman who picks him up is his grandma, she just lives down the road.
• Mom: (just looking at me like I’m a crazy person, or so it felt like) Oh, you work – that’s why I haven’t met you before.
• Me: Yes, I work full time and I pick up the boys after the day is done. (Now I’m feeling like a bad mom because I work and I’m not part of the fun stay-at-home-mom club)
• Mom: Huh, well it was nice to meet you.

End conversation…

After this very short chat with her, once she found out that I worked and this is my first time at school for Hunter, she turns back to the other group of moms and schedules a play date with them while the kids are in class but also talks loud enough to let every one near by know what their plans are. It seems like I can’t be part of that group because I work.

At times I think that being part of play dates and daytime outings would be a lot of fun, and lets face it – I would LOVE to have a group of moms from Hunter’s class to get to know and do things with and form some sort of relationship. But the look I got for letting her know that I work full time and this was my first time at school makes me not want to be part of that group. Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh and according to social media I’m the worst: I had a c-section so I took the ‘easy‘ way out of having a baby – both my kids were/are FORMULA babies (gasp!!) – we have infertility issues and went through a sperm donor, so there is another mark against us 🙂 Everything we’re doing seems to go against the grain of others opinions – personally I’m 100% ok with this. But I know that these things can really bring others down – I don’t want to be that type of person. I know I’m not perfect but I hope that I’ve never made anyone feel this way.

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With how much we already beat ourselves up for not being able to do everything for our families we do not need others making comments on the same topics. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’d LOVE to be able to be at EVERY doctors appointment, school event, play date – I really would, but that is just not how our life/family works. Please, don’t try and make me feel guilty because I’m not a stay at home mom or that I have a full time job or that I’ve missed doctors appointments – I already feel bad enough for all those things.

So from one full time working mom to ALL moms out there (stay at home mom, working mom, dog mom, cat mom…..any other moms I missed) – Keep it up, you’re doing amazing. I see you, I know you’re tired and the days/nights get long but you’re killing it! Don’t beat yourself up if you forgot an apple on apple day at school (I did this already) or forgetting it’s Orange Day, don’t beat yourself up for missing a school event, don’t beat yourself up for having a career, don’t beat yourself up for being a stay at home mom and miss working outside the home. We all have our own adventures in life, we all have different paths – seriously, lift each other up. Look at her and say “you’re doing great” “keep it up”.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

 

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Hello world…Did ya miss us?

Ok so I know it’s been a LLOONNGG time since I’ve taken the time to do a little writing and updating. I have a pretty good excuse though…I’m officially a mom of two working full time and the ‘household manager’.  Wyatt is almost 10 months old now and is truly an amazing addition to our family. Looking back on my last post (May) we were just getting ready for our finalization to happen with the courts. Here’s a break down of what has happened since then…

May:

• Mother’s Day: Our whole family gathered at church to witness our dedication of Mr. Wyatt, also our amazing birth mom came to celebrate with us. It was an amazing day, lots of pictures, laughter and I’m so unbelievably thankful for everyone who came. Another really special thing that happened for Mother’s Day and dedication is that we are able to pick a verse that is read to the congregation that we ‘give’ to our child. Wyatt has two, one from his birth mom and one from us.
  • Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
  • Hebrews 13: 20,21 – Now may the God of peace… (21) equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

• May 31: Officially a Paddock!! We had both of our parents, one of our best friends and our Social Worker at the court house to witness this amazing event! The crazy thing is….it took all of 5 minutes!?!? Can you believe that! The judge asked us our names and if everything was correct on our paperwork – and that was that, he was officially a Paddock within 5 minutes. Then we all went to the river and took family pictures!

June/July: First family road trip!!! Where did we go….NEBRASKA! Yes, you read that correctly. We all hopped in the new minivan (again…yes, you read that correctly – I now have a minivan) and drove the 6 hours to Omaha. Side note: we took on this adventure while also in the middle of potty training Hunter – we are the proud owners of a travel potty. Since we (my brothers and I) were born there and I lived there until I was 12 we wanted to bring all of our kiddos down and see the Henry Doorly Zoo and celebrate July 4th together. Also, it’s not a true road trip to Omaha if you don’t stop in Story City, Iowa – it’s a must. It was a very successful FIRST family vacation!

At the end of July, Mr. Wyatt became a proud owner of a little helmet. We noticed his head looking a little flat at his 6 month appointment, we tried physical therapy to help loosen up his neck muscles – but that didn’t work the way we were hoping so he has a helmet. He looks pretty cute in it and really doesn’t mind it at all. He first started wearing it for an hour to two hours, and now he’s in it for 23-24 hours/day (we take it off to clean it and bath time). We go to the specialist every three weeks for measurements, and we’re hopeful that he will be out of it by Christmas. If you have a little one who needs a helmet we ordered all of our stickers from Bling Your Band ! They have a TON of options on their site and if you want to paint your helmet they have the paint and steps to follow so that it doesn’t peal or fade. I didn’t want to paint his helmet because I needed to keep my sticker options open, I wasn’t willing to get locked into one design 🙂

August: First Flight for Wyatt – Hello hot and steamy Florida! My grandparents are in FL and do not travel anymore so we hopped on a plane and headed down for a visit! Let me tell ya….I have the BEST kids when it comes to traveling. They were awesome on the plane. Funny story: the guy we were sitting next to on the flight was not too happy that he was going to be sitting next to two kids. After the flight attendants closed the main door he asked if there were any open seats so he could move…there was one a few rows ahead of us – turns out it was right next to the kid who cried/screamed the ENTIRE flight. My boys…quietly playing with toys, cars and watching a movie – not a peep! 🙂 Made my flight – I had an extra seat for Wyatt to sit and my kids were awesome. We had a wonderful visit with my grandparents, my aunt and uncle even came down from Alabama to see us. It was a very fast trip but worth it. There were a lot of firsts on this trip for Wyatt: first flight, first time in the ocean, first time meeting Ggmama & Ggpapa and other family.

September: Second Family Vacation – Oregon!! Last year Ryan fell in love with Oregon, so now it’s a yearly family vacation – which you won’t find me complaining about at all. I LOVE Oregon. This year we stayed in the mountains – the foothills of Mt. Hood to be exact. Again, both boys did awesome on the flight out and back and even the 1.5 hour car ride from Portland out to Rhododendron where we were staying. We rented a house/cabin for the week. Travel Advice: always rent a house/condo when traveling with tiny humans, it makes the trip SOOOO much better to have a ‘home base’ and a room of their own. We were there for a week, it rained EVERY DAY – but hey, it’s Oregon and the rain didn’t stop us from going out hiking daily. Another side note: We love our toddler hiking packs – I swear by these things. Once the kids were loaded up it only took Wyatt about 10 minutes of sitting in his to pass out – he took amazing naps in that thing. Hunter did really good too, after a while we’d let him do his own hiking too but he was fine being put back in it – he never slept but I think that he enjoyed the ability to just look around and take it all in. It was a very very busy week – only day we took off from hiking was to drive out to Eugene to see my grandma and family.

Adventures included:

• Hiking to Little Zigzag falls-very easy hike

• Hiking Salmon River Trail – easy hike, could have gone further

• Trillium Lake – this hike started out absolutely beautiful and we ended the hike running to the car in a downpour

• Cascade Locks – Bridge of the Gods (Legend of the Bridge) and hiked a little on the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington

• Horsetail Falls & Multnomah Falls – one of the most photographed waterfalls / bridges in Oregon. Trail head said it’s a mile to the top of the fall…yeah it ended up being over 2 miles with 11 switchbacks, no rails and a VERY steep drop if something were to happen…BUT we did it! I had Wyatt on my back, Hunter and Ryan walked the whole way up. The view from the top is amazing – worth the climb!

• Drive out to Eugene, Oregon! Took a day to drive out to see my grandma, aunt/uncle and cousin. It was a scary drive back to the cabin though, a few times hydroplaning and LOTS of rain. But everyone was able to meet Wyatt and play with Hunter. Memories are worth the ‘white knuckle’ drive

• Mt Hood Adventure – Timberline Lodge – if the outside of the lodge looks familiar to you….it was used in The Shining (Jack Nicholson) and in the movie Wild (Reese Witherspoon). When we arrived at Timberline we could see a very TINY sliver of Mt. Hood and that was it, the rest of the time we were walking in the clouds and never saw the mountain. Never the less it was still a lot of fun to see the different trails, do more hiking and scope out the lodge. I’d love to stay there one day and really explore the different hikes around the mountain.

I’m ready to start planning out our next family vacation and see what adventures we can go on. It’s been a great year so far and the boys. Wyatt is on the move which means Hunter needs to include him when he is playing or Hunter goes to his room and shuts the door to play with his toys. He isn’t used to sharing and now that Wyatt can get around her’s learning really quick that little brothers can be a lot of fun or super annoying 🙂 ah the joys of having siblings. Hunter is still asking for a sister and wants another little baby in the house – I told him I’d love another little baby in the house (boy or girl) but right now we need to enjoy the little baby that we have and we will see what the future holds for our family. My gut is telling me that our family isn’t done growing just yet but again, we will wait and see what God has planned for our future.

Other Highlights:

• Hunter started Preschool this year and Cubbies! He loves both!
• Hunter started Ninja School (and yes, it is exactly what is sounds like) Saturday mornings start out with Ninja School. It’s awesome to watch him too, he’s the smallest one in his class but I feel like he’s the strongest one
• Wyatt is crawling, pulling himself up on things and climbing up stairs. He thinks Hunter is the best thing in the world and anything Hunter does Wyatt laughs at (these two will be trouble as they get older)
• Our agency reached out today to see if we would be willing to share our adoption story for National Adoption Month – which is November. I said absolutely we would love to share our story with others. We still have a strong relationship with our birth mom as well as our social worker, they are both amazing and part of our family. 

Until next time!

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

 

Wow…it’s been a while!

Hello Everyone – how the heck are ya?!?! So I know it’s been a LLLOOONNNGGGGG time since I’ve been on here to give an update of our crazy, busy, wonderful life!

So here it goes….starting with the house…

Basement: In the family room we have flooring, window coverings (which nerd alert…are AMAZING – you can have them open, closed or sheer – OH and ZERO cords. Told ya…kinda nerdy but I lobe them we ordered them from Budget Blinds), we have a huge couch (perfect for Hunter and his ninja moves), kiddo toys have been moved back to the basement and the bar is coming along! Ryan did an absolutely beautiful job on the bar top. He saw online someplace how to burn wood and use epoxy for the top – seriously, it’s really beautiful and fits perfectly in with the basement. We still need to finish laying flooring in the hall, back bedroom, stairs and landing but at least the family room is done and we have a big tv and couch perfect for movies. Here’s the To Do List for the basement:

• Install the cupboards at the back of the bar
• Install the little bar sink
• Find and install countertops
• Stain and hang upper cupboards, stain the wood on the edges of the bar
• Make shelving for under bar for storage

My very talented husband made this bar 🙂 it’s awesome and I love the top!!

I LOVE these blinds/shades – whatever you want to call them! Also, don’t mind the ceiling tiles….they are getting replaced as well. As always, never ending projects.

Basement Bathroom: All the tile is done – I will NEVER use slate tiles again. You have to seal them two to three times before you install them and after need to seal them two more times. It’s a pain in the butt, if you want the color and look of slate find a different tile that looks like it. With that, I am VERY happy with the way the shower has turned out. Grout is Delorean Gray (sand free) looks perfect with the slate and the glass tiles. We also have the same caulking color to match everything – because in my world things need to match.  Vanity and sink are all set up and ready to go, I did notice that the light isn’t centered with the sink and that is going to really bother my OCD brain – but it will be ok, I will survive 🙂  Here’s the newest To Do list:

• Now need to hang the mirror
• Install the shower door
• Install the shower heads and other fixtures
• Make a cupboard door for the access area to the sump pump
• Add shelving to the cubby for towels and other items

Back Bedroom/Dog Room: We haven’t done anything in this room except add outlets to the new walls we had to rebuild from the mold. I still need to seal the drywall, paint the whole room, install the flooring, put the moldings back on, and put the closets back together. This room is not high on the list to get things done, but eventually it will get there 🙂

OK So here’s the BEST update EVER….Adoption!

My beautiful boys – heart exploding

Tomorrow our Social Worker will file our first set of paperwork for our Petition of Adoption with Anoka County!!! AHHHHHHH —- Freak out with me! It’s soooooo amazingly exciting I can hardly contain myself!! I know that I haven’t given much of an update on any of the adoption news since January and that’s because we aren’t supposed to right now. I will give a FULL Story once we have our court date. Just know that Mr. Jonah Wyatt is absolutely perfect! I mean look at these Easter pictures – Hunter is an AMAZING big brother and always wanting to help out, I’m so in love with their relationship and it’s just a blessing to see him want to take care of his baby brother. I will say…I’m a little jealous of my three year old…he gets the BIGGEST smiles from Wyatt – I try and try and try but Wyatt just loves watching Hunter and is starting to giggle a little now. It’s magical!

God has truly blessed us with an amazing birth mom and an amazing son. As I’ve said in the past, this entire adoption adventure has been put together by Him and only Him. He had these two picked out for us from the beginning, he was just waiting on us to take that leap of faith and figure out what He was telling us — Adoption is for you — once we started listening things started happening and they happened VERY QUICKLY!

The power prayer is something that we will never be able to comprehend and it’s something that I will never question. When you put it out in the world that you are asking for prayers, small groups, Prayer Works (KTIS), family and friends never fail. Our adoption story is proof of that.

Wyatt will be dedicated on Mother’s Day and these are the two verses that we will present him with:

From his birth mom: Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

From us, his parents: Hebrews 13:20, 21 “Now may the God of peace, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Stay tuned for the Full Story!!

Life is ALWAYS an adventure…

So as our site says Paddock Family Adventures, we are currently on one of those adventures. Yesterday we headed out from Minnesota and arrived in Oregon for a MUCH needed family vacation. With the stress of all the house issues and the stress of the adoption process we were looking forward to getting a way for a while.

Trip started out normal, left with enough time to check our giant bag as well as the bag that had our car seat and the toddler hiking pack in it. I refused to bring a stroller because I have ‘stroller rage’ with slow people 🙂 First flight was uneventful and long, second flight we had about an hour connection and that flight was only about 45 minutes. Finlly, arrived in Medford (little airport, but very nice).

Here’s where things go a little south, got off the plane made our way to the baggage claim. Our giant bag arrived no issue, BUT the bag with our car seat and hiking pack didn’t make it. In my mind I could care less about the giant bag with our clothes in it, we kinda sorta need the car seat…

I went over to the office for missing luggage, feeling pissed that our things are missing. When I got into the office there was another lady chatting with the guy at the desk. She was on the same flight as us [Sun Country –> Portland –> Alaska Air –>Medford]. Apparently there was an issue in Minneapolis, Sun Country with getting bags on the flights — Awesome! All I can think is that, we still have  2.5 hour drive to our hotel for the night in Crescent City – we NEEDED a car seat.

My turn to talk to the guy at the counter. First I want to say that his name is Chase, red hair and glasses and is completely AMAZING!!!!!! We will be letting Alaska Airlines know how amazingly awesome he is. Anyways, I told him that our car seat didn’t make it and what do we do now? I’ve never had my luggage not arrive at our final destination so this was all new to me. He called Sun Country and the Portland airport to see if they could locate the bag. No luck, no one knew where it was because it wasn’t at any of the airports and it wasn’t on any of the planes.

Chase set us up with a car seat – brand new – and took all of our information. He also went to the Alaska counter and picked us food vouchers for the restaurant in the airport so we could go grab some dinner while he continued to work on finding our bag. Again, he is awesome. Still no luck with the bag but he let us know that anything we go and purchase we can be reimbursed for the expenses. We needed to get a hiking pack for this trip, lucky for us there was an REI about a mile from the airport. We went over to the Enterprise rental counter to pick up the car, I was talking to the lady there and she asked how we were doing – I gave her a little over view of the day and she said “let me see what I can do”, she upgraded our rental to a nicer/larger car with all sorts of bells and whistles!

Made our way to REI found a hiking pack and headed back to the airport to see Chase again. We arrived from Portland at 2:30 pm it is now 7:30 pm and we still haven’t left for the hotel. Met up with Chase, filled out some paperwork for the reimbursement check, got back in the car and started our adventure to the coast!

We go to the hotel around 10:30 pm – which for us is 12:30 pm. I went to go check in, it’s a little hotel with two levels, doors outside. I asked the lady at the desk if we were on the main level because Ryan’s back is not doing great and was using his cane more and more throughout the day. She said that we were set up on the second floor but she gave us a complementary upgrade to a first floor suite. One king size bed for three 🙂

Today we head to the redwoods with our new hiking pack, fully rested and ready for the next adventure!

To be continued….