This is Jacob

Jacob is my wild child. Speaking to friends it seems to be a birth order thing, him being the 2nd child and all. Where as my oldest is very serious, Jacob is very silly. He loves to be the life of the party and is very social. He loves to sing and dance and dreams of being on a stage one day as it is something he talks about often. When he was 2 he told his teacher that he was a girl, a pretty princess to be exact, he thought this was hilarious. He loved for them to put his hair in a ponytail and would cry when I tried to remove it (I actually have that on video). He developed a fond attachment to a baby doll he cleverly named 'baby' which they let him 'adopt'. At 3 he sometimes plays dress up in school and sometimes chooses the dresses which he says make him look beautiful. He also loves to do his nails and will have me put Jamberry on them and he doesn't care which kind they are even though I've ordered boy looking ones specifically for him. He will sometimes pretend to have a purse and mimic me. People give us a hard time for 'letting' him do these things. Sometimes there is backlash and people try to take away his doll or ponies or tell him that doing his nails is for girls. But you see just as often as Jacob plays with the doll he plays with his basketball set and cars. Just as often as he does his nails, he rips them off and covers them in dirt. Twice as often as he puts on a dress he will choose a superhero costume or boy character shirt. You see it is us as adults that stigma what is 'boy' or 'girl'. Jacob isn't bothered by gender norms, we adults are. Do I think he is gay or transgender? No, I think he is 3 and when he is an adult and has the right to define himself I will allow him to do so without judgement- just as I refuse to judge him now. Because he is Jacob and just as often as he is cool, he is fabulous and I'm perfectly ok with this because this is Jacob.

Don't Worry Momma

So as most of you know Joshua is 5. As it has been developmentally appropriate we have tried to find the right balance of sheltering and exposure so that he is prepared for the world around him. He is also obsessed with Minecraft (OBSESSED). As a child that is borderline Aspergers and possibly gifted he goes through phases of obsession that I work to help him develop and keep under control. One of his favorite things is watching videos on MODS which I don't quite understand but I listen to in the background to make sure they are 'kid' appropriate. I have all settings on parental controls on YouTube set to filter videos and help me monitor his video watching. I also set time limits etc. Well this morning as I'm getting ready he is talking to me about videos that he has seen. He told me he found girl Minecraft MODS. He knows how I feel about gender equality so he knew I would like that. I commented on how that is awesome and asked him to explain how it was a girl MOD. He said, "Well all the girls were in bikinis" This is where I stop getting ready and give him the mom eyebrow. Ya'll know the one right? He said, "Well they are Minecraft girls," Then he looked at me and clear as day said, "Oh Don't worry momma I didn't see their boobs" OMGoodness!!!! There are some mommy moments that you just can't help but throw your head back and laugh hysterically. This was one of them. Please go back to watching boy Minecraft videos son lol

This is my life....literally my life

So I laid down on the rug to stretch and this happens. This is known as relaxing mommy style also known as HELP ME!!!!

Respawning

Talking to Joshua about what happens when you die. He said, "Well in Minecraft you respawn back to the place you started". I said, "Right, but what happens when you die in real life?" He said, "You go back to Jesus but it is like you respawn back to God, back to where he made us!"

Quiet time

 My favorite time after a crazy day is our decompression time, right before nap, where we all veg out with electronics and have 'quiet time'. Jacob literally watched an entire episode of a kids show in what I believe to be Japanese and I didn't stop him because he was quiet. Look at how he is so engaged! I decided if I home-schooled I'd have considered it 'foreign language' time which is totally educational. I call that a mommy win.

Like a Boss

Today we went to the splash pad. I ran around playing with the boys trying not to feel self conscious about my jiggling thighs or the fact that my spray tan had worn off revealing how shockingly white I really am. I let them spray me in the face which made them giggle and I even got my hair wet which Joshua pointed out since it's not my favorite thing to do. We made memories. As I dried them off they asked what we were having for lunch and I replied a turkey sandwich with grapes and carrots which got a nodding approval from an elderly lady commenting on the healthy lunch I was feeding them and I walked away in that moment as super mom. I let myself have the moment because just as often I've not gotten my hair wet, playing on my phone or reading a book soaking up those 30 minutes of peace. I've fed them chicken nuggets from happy meals or mac and cheese and I'm ok with this because being a mommy is all about finding that balance and realizing my kids love both types of me. But today I'll walk away from this moment like a boss.

Birth of Ironmommy

This is my family. We are normal...not really....not at all. Funny happens all the time and although I capture life on my Facebook I want another place to keep the memories so that one day the boys can find this page and laugh- because let's face it, if they can't laugh at themselves then I didn't do my job. So if you find this page and laugh too- enjoy!